My Sixties Project

I started out writing “not exactly the Yellow Brick Road” but stopped mid sentence when I realized it is exactly like the Yellow Brick Road.” The path to retirement, or at least mine, seems fraught with adventure, both excitingly good, and frighteningly scary. As I walk down this path, something will be missing, maybe not a hear, brain, or courage, but there will be a gap I need to feill. Just thinking about the decisions, tasks, and changes send both my heart and my monkey mind into overdrive. Here are a couple of things that are popping up for me today.

First, will my days still be meaningful? I hope so, although I feel like I need to reinvent my purpose for getting out of bed in the morning. When you have a job that is demanding, your every minute is consumed with what you need to do to make things work. I admittedly spent too much time engrossed in my job and career and it has taken over my identity. Knowing this, i have backed off and no longer feel like I am lost in my work. I am able to relax and enjoy my time away without engaging in the day to day drama. In other words, I have learned to to look at email and answer texts. the big dilemma for me now is – what do I want to do with the rest of my life that has purpose. I need to discover the next thing in my life that gives me purpose and allows me to serve others, but what is it??

Second, will I keep going with enthusiasm and energy or will I just become someone who stays at home and take advantage of not having to participate in life. My husband has pretty much become housebound and I dam sure is not what I want to do. I have started googling article about retirement and one of the things they say to remember is hygiene. Seriously, there seems to be a hygiene problem with retirees who no longer longer are social or leave they houses. I have started to work on ;things I enjoy and meeting with people I enjoy to ensure this doesn’t happen. I think one of my projects will be to get my husband out or the house to do things with me. I will just have to wait and see how this works out.

The one thing that really scares me more that than flying monkeys is being irrelevant and feeling discarded. I have purpose now and will create my future purpose. Keep posted there’s more to come!