I was cruising through my phone’s photo library for a certain shot from a while back and I realized I had captured so many moments that I really had not appreciated.
Lesson to self: Don’t just take photos. Relive them. See what emotions and richer details are recaptured. Make your past as enjoyable as the present. And it might even lead to a fuller, more deeply appreciated future.
During my year, I lost a relative and our beloved dog.
No fun…just when I was settling in a bit to my new chapter.
How to deal with sadness?
Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings blog reviews Michael Rosen’s Sad Book.
The book’s and the review’s main points really hit home.
From Popova: Rosen welcomes the layers of grief, each unmasking a different shade of sadness — sadness that sneaks up on you mid-stride in the street; sadness that lurks as a backdrop to the happiest of moments…
From the author: Really I’m sad but pretending I’m happy.
I’m doing this because I think people won’t like me if I look sad.
Take a look. We’re all in this living drama together.
Note: I retired for twelve months and learned plenty. I’ll be posting at least one stepping stone per week. Each of these lessons or impressions from that year off will constitute a mini-chapter in my book-in-progress. [Yes, that’s one of my unfinished projects. ;->]
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I’m also looking at setting up an online community.
If you’re interested…
I have two of Jill Badonsky’s books: The Awe-manac and The Muse Is In
Until tonight, I had not opened this newsletter. My wife had forwarded it to me the same month I left my job almost two years ago. Just one of those emails that slipped by.
I hope the quote nudges my fellow retirees forward in your creative pursuits. [Note: I posted this in my other blog –the mark of a good quote.]
If you believe it’s time to give that creative calling inside of you a shot, honor it in some really small way today.
Start by asking “What do I love about my creative passion?” and “What one really small thing I can do to get started?”
Just asking these questions, even without having an answer, will begin to shift your energy toward the thoughts and actions that make it easier to get to your passion.
Once you light that fire, you will shine so brightly, there’s a chance one or two souls will stop their bickering and be inspired to do the same–you will be a catalyst of creative passion. — Jill Badonsky
Retire-Renewers, this is a three-minute wake-up call I’ve bookmarked for a weekly ‘revisit’.
Because Stacey Kramer delivered this in 2010, you may be among the 3.7 million people who have already seen it.
Today was the first time I’d seen it. Much better late than never…
Quote from video: “So the next time you’re faced with something that’s unexpected, unwanted, and uncertain, consider…that it just may be…a gift.”
Questions I would ask fellow retirees…
Retire-Renewers, even if you’ve already seen it, this is a three-minute wake-up call I’ve bookmarked for a weekly ‘revisit’.
This TED talk is from 2010 and has been viewed by 3.7 million people.
And today was the first time I’ve seen it.
I went eight years without this ‘gift’ and, because of my jobs and pastimes, I spend a fair amount of time online.
A prime illustration of how wide and deep the Internet has become.
Oh, sure, there were times I was a very reasonable employer.
A trip to California? Why not?
Start a new writing project? Sure. It’ll pay off in the future. [It hasn’t yet.]
I got motivated to start new projects and waltz into learning [or trying to learn] new skills and strategies.
But things stalled when the idea of marketing and any whiff of a profit motive entered into the equation.
At some point, I put myself on suspension. [Or, in Animal House-speak, ‘double-secret probation’.] [go to the 1:10 mark in the video]
I’ve climbed out of my ‘double-secret’ exile, but still, I’m still in production rather than profit mode. So be it.
Note: I retired for twelve months and learned plenty. I’ll be posting my impressions and lessons–I’ll call them ‘stepping stones‘–as a friend, not an advisor, and certainly not as an expert. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Or is it the other way around?
In reality, they probably work hand in hand.
When everyone on earth was writing more posts, creating more courses, selling more products [no matter that I didn’t have anything to sell nor was I even thinking ‘sales’], it was easy to get drawn into that trap.
And while wrestling with the feeling that I should be doing ‘more’, it would have been nice to have these reminders to gain perspective. [Thank you, Amy Johnson from tinybuddha.com]
Retire*Renew*Reinvent 