Retirement comes with a long list of items in the plus column – no more work being the biggest one! No more being on someone else’s time schedule. No more being expected to be in one spot where someone can summon you all day long. No more meetings. No more routine.
BUT…..at the beginning, those things might go in the minus column too!
Once you leave the confines of a job, only YOU are responsible for your day.
Only YOU decide where you are going and when.
Only YOU.
All day. Every day.
At first those huge expanses of time can be daunting. It can be terrifying to take the leap into unstructured “nothingness “. You have to “work” to figure out how to re-engineer your day. Nobody monitors what/when/where you are when you aren’t on their payroll. YOU have to care.
What used to be your limited “free time” is now ALL the time.
You now have “time affluence”.
Once you get your head around that – do not underestimate the value of your new superpower – AVAILABILITY.
You now have time to enjoy joy.
Your new job is to use your time affluence to take consciousness and awareness SERIOUSLY.
You now have the luxury of being mindful ALL THE TIME.
You have no longer signed off large portions of your day to abstraction and distraction.
Every minute is as important as every other minute.
This wide-open expanse of time can seem overwhelming to someone used to a day full of productive tasks in a work environment. It was to me.
I retired in my forties after I watched the effects stress had on my co-workers. I decided I wasn’t going to do that with my “one wild and precious life.”
I had big ideas of doing something grand to serve others…..start a non-profit, volunteer with the Peace Corps, change the world…
But I “never got around to it.”
And I chastised myself for not giving back, for not contributing.
Until one day I realized that I WAS contributing, in dozens of small ways every day.
I drove friends to colonoscopies. Picked up their kids from school when they were running late. Watered plants, walked dogs, picked up prescriptions. Reached the high shelves at the grocery store for wheelchair shoppers. Organized papers/closets/schedules/lives with the working overwhelmed.
This was in the early 2000’s, when there were not that many fortysomethings “out of office.” Seems like everybody was chained to 9-5 (and beyond!).
When I took the time to acknowledge that AVAILABILITY was an asset, the world opened up.
Literally!
Because I was AVAILABLE….opportunities came a knockin’. And I opened the door!
Because I had a non-existent “schedule,” I was able to say YES when invited (often on a last-minute, “somebody fell through due to work obligations” basis) on wonderful trips, special events, one of a kind experiences.
And I started relaxing into the gratitude for all that….visited 55 countries, all 7 continents, met 2 presidents (ended up at Oprah’s house to meet one of them), dinner partied with the New York Philharmonic, champagne brunched at Mt. Everest Base Camp, cocktailed with members of the Ministry of Happiness in Bhutan, interned at a regenerative farm in Mexico…all things I never ever EVER dreamed could happen as I toiled away in an office. And, the more I relaxed into this, even more showed up.
Sooooooo….now that YOU are time affluent, take a moment to acknowledge, thank, and relax into your new superpower…AVAILABILITY.
It definitely goes into the plus column!
-Jean
Jean Courtney is currently a time-affluent perpetual learner passionate about brain health. She lectures on lifestyle factors to minimize risk of cognitive decline, and often teaches cooking classes illuminating this at Rancho La Puerta.