How To Enjoy Every Day in Retirement

A close friend of mine came face to face with his mortality recently.  Luckily he was given another chance to continue on but it wasn’t an easy process for him to go through.  He had a good attitude about things.  When he was younger he said he bounced back quickly from operations and other life challenges.  This time he is reassessing what is really important.  Seeing his kids more often is high on the list. Taking more time off work is also important.

Have you ever thought about your own mortality?  I hear so many friends say things like “I can’t wait until I retire to travel to Europe.”  “I can’t wait until I retire to spend more time with the kids.”  “Maybe when I retire I’ll have enough money to buy a new car and travel across Canada.”

Enjoying My Bucket List!

So they finally retire and suddenly their health goes downhill while their retirement funds are going uphill.  They haven’t got the health or energy to do what they wanted to do with the rest of their life even though they have more money in their pocket than what they figured they would have.

All I can say is “Do what you keep putting off for another day, NOW!” Know what is on your personal bucket list and embrace it.  I talk from experience.  When I went in for an operation 30 years ago, the way I wanted my life to look changed a lot. It wasn’t that the operation was life threatening.  I just thought about how my life could change if something went wrong.
There were times I figured I couldn’t or shouldn’t do things that were important to me because I was a wife and a mother and my roll in life was to look after others.  Travel was high on my list of things to experience but I felt I was running away from home if I took an opportunity to go somewhere by myself.  Looking back, I did eventually run away, but because I was in a place that wasn’t totally right for me.

Thirty years later I find that there are ways to balance all that is important to me.  I have to continue working because some of my financial decisions haven’t worked out as well as I hoped but I only work 20 hours a week at my main career.  The rest of the time I spend doing the things that excite me.  I write, I travel, I instruct others, I visit my children and granddaughter, and I spend quality time with the man in my life and his family.  My friends are also very important at this time in my life too.

Part of my world has become smaller; other parts have expanded.  I don’t see my extended family as much as I used to but they don’t come to visit me as much either because they are taking time to enjoy their lives.  Seeing children and grandchildren is important to me so we try to arrange contact around every 6 weeks.  They live a few hours’ drive away from me. 

 My writing is one of my main ways of relaxing so that is a daily thing on my list that I do. Instructing others takes on many forms for me.  It might be through my writing, like this article, or it could be in a classroom setting 2 or 3 times a year when I teach instructors how to teach English as a second language. 

Traveling internationally at least a couple of times a year is important to me right now.  In order to facilitate that at a reasonable cost I work together with a friend to coordinate small group travel to all over the world. We make sure everything goes smoothly on the international trips.  Working as a team gives us the opportunity to enjoy time off while traveling.  I will keep doing that as long as I am enjoying it and my health is good.

My lifestyle is also quite simple.  My bucket list doesn’t include having a big house or a brand new car.  I live in a walk up apartment that has been newly decorated.  Because of its location, in a warehouse complex, the rent is very reasonable. I believe in recycling so often other peoples throwaways become my new treasures when I need something.  The older I get the more I realize how little I really need for my creature comforts.  If my children want boats and lake cabins and expensive trips they will create their own bucket lists.

Writing my bucket list down and crossing things off as I accomplish my dreams makes it possible for me to keep on living in the present. I can enjoy each day I have left to the fullest!