Rant #2,725: Roll With the Flow

I had a good sleep last night, so the insomnia that I had lasted just one night …
 
And hopefully will not return.
 
In addition to insomnia, I think I also had a massive brain cramp early yesterday morning, because a major anniversary in my life completely went by me.
 
Yesterday, September 1, was the first anniversary of my retirement, or at least my retirement as defined by the government and by Social Security..
 
I had completely forgotten that yesterday was a year since my retirement officially went into effect.
 
That was such a bizarre period in my life that I might have just put it way back in my brain, but yes, yesterday was the day.
 
I think I didn’t realize it because just six days after I became officially retired, on September 7, Labor Day last year, my father passed away, so you mix the two things together, and it is really a period I would like to forget.
 
There really isn’t much more to say about this anniversary of my retirement, other than to say that I have kept busy and active over the past year, and will do so into the foreseeable future, a future that will see my wife join me in retirement in just a couple of months.
 
She has finally chosen her last day of work for herself, and the day is coming before you know it.
 
I have told her many times that until you are officially retired, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into.
 
No matter how horrible your past job was, there are going to be times that you miss the camaraderie you get by going to it and working closely with your fellow employees.
 
While home, there are going to be days that are busy as can be, but more so than not, there are going to be days where you will have to find something for yourself to do.
 
Sometimes, the days blend into each other, and you have to check the calendar to make sure what day it is.
 
Other days do stand out for one reason or another.
 
But the key is to keep busy, doing stuff that you could not have done when you were working full time.
 
I remember that last tear, in the midst of the height of the pandemic, I would put up videos on Facebook to show people what I was doing to keep busy.
 
I read about so many people who were going completely stir crazy because they were forced to stay home because of the pandemic, and they could not find the least bit of anything to do while they were in their own homes.
 
To this day, I don’t understand that, but getting a head start with my hone confinement put me in a better position to know what to do to keep myself busy while others twiddled their thumbs, not knowing how to take advantage of such an opportunity.
 
Looking back, among other things, I wrote a novel and cleaned up the room where I keep all my records.
 
And, of course, I continued to look for work.
 
I also continued this blog, and after about a year where I was completely out of work, I miraculously got a remote writing job.
 
Back to my wife ... 

On weekends where there isn’t anything set in stone for my family to do, my wife has often told me that she is bored on her day off.
 
I have told her time and time again that since you are in your own house, there is always something to do.
 
And if you are bored during a single day, how are you going to be when you are off seven days a week?
 
She has expressed interest in perhaps getting back to her artwork, maybe taking some classes to get her reinvigorated to do that again, and that sounds like a great idea.
 
My mother often said that the way that I kind of kept my days going, even as a kid, was that I had a lot of hobbies, and when you are retired, it gives you a chance to get back to those hobbies, and really dive into them full throttle.
 
During the past year-plus, that is what I have done, and it really has filled up the time in between my writing and other things I have to do related to my family.
 
But again, there are going to be days where you have exhausted any outlet to find things to keep you busy, and I have learned to just take those days as they come.
 
I figure that at least one or two days a week will be days that I don’t do much of anything, but I balance that with the days that I am busy, and it all puts me ahead of the game.
 
My wife is sure to learn all about this when her retirement comes to fruition, but I have told her and others that you don’t know anything about retirement until you are actually retired, and I am going to stand by that assertion.
 
At least my wife gets to choose when she wants to retire; I never got that opportunity, and yes, it does rile me that I didn’t get the chance to pick and choose when I would hang it up, but there is nothing I can do about it now, even though it continues to gnaw at me.
 
Here are some famous and not-so-famous quotations about retirement that I found on various sites on the Internet.
 
It is very clear that people have mixed emotions about retirement, and that mirrors my feelings on this situation, too.
 
“I didn’t know that painters and writers retired. They’re like soldiers – they just fade away.” ― Lawrence Ferlinghetti, beat writer of the 1950s and 1960s.
 
“But I'm really enjoying my retirement. I get to sleep in every day. I do crossword puzzles and eat cake.” ― Derek Landy, Mortal Coil.
 
And finally, maybe the best one of all:
 
“He knew now that it was his own will to happiness which must make the next move. But if he was to do so, he realized that he must come to terms with time, that to have time was at once the most magnificent and the most dangerous of experiments. Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.” ― Albert Camus, A Happy Death.
 
Yes, retirement is not only a physical action, it is also a physical state of being.
 
There is no right way to prepare for it, because we all are preparing for it throughout our working lives … although we don’t realize it.
 
Am I personally used to retirement?
 
I don’t think I will ever be “used” to it, but I think the one piece of advice I can give anyone is this:
 
“Roll with the flow.”
 
There is simply no other way to handle retirement, whether you are able to choose your “due” date or you are thrust into it like I was.