Tag: inspiration for retirees

A gift for a retired friend

Today is her birthday. I’m showcasing her work over the years and am looking forward to sitting down and have her provide background and art tips as we both click through the images.

Here is the page: https://retiredguys.net/superb-artwork-on-display-here/

Side benefit: Inspiration to keep plowing forward on my various projects.

Sunsets–another reason to leave the recliner

My good (and retired) friend’s wife–an expert photographer–took this photo outside of Marysville, California just yesterday.

Needless to say, they left their recliners, right?

Hoping your Thanksgiving weekend is going well. Buddy here is pleased so far. Seems he likes the idea of us leaving our recliners.

Need more deep insights into retirement?
Check out my insanely overpriced book.

Reasons to leave the recliner–the occasional splurge

It’s been so easy to settle into the daily routine of hot Italian roast, toast, and fruit around 7:30 [after The Little Commander gets his morning stroll.], followed by my daily intentional dodge of all things ‘news’ by clicking over to my personal comics page.

Just plain tuckered out from his morning neighborhood rounds.

But there comes a time when you have to embark on a mission of self-sacrifice. In this case, we waited till 9:00 for our favorite breakfast place to open.

Along with two ample breakfast sandwiches [the other halves we’ll eat tomorrow], I–to quote my wife–‘over-ordered’. The evidence is at the top of this post. To be fair to myself (and hey, if I don’t, who will?), I don’t recall her shaking her head in displeasure as I phoned in our requests.

So go on, leave that living room and look to create rather than consume some entertainment. There will be times (yesterday, for instance), when ‘consumption’ wins out.

Reasons to leave the recliner–neighborhood walks

We’ve been graced with imaginative and humorous neighbors who keep these ursine friends dressed to match seasons and current events.

When I take and share photos, I also try to keep ‘declare it art’ in mind.

So go on, leave that living room and look to create rather than consume some entertainment.

Change ‘and’ to ‘or’.

I sent this post over from my retiredguys.net blog.

Derek Sivers…smart guy. Helpful, down-to-earth insights. Shared freely right here in excerpts from his book, Hell Yeah or No–what’s worth doing.

I ran across this one today: Procrastination hack: change “and” to “or”

He saw that he was applying too many ‘musts’ to his list before making time to exercise. Result: Not enough fitness sessions. ‘And’ to ‘or’ made all the difference.

As retired guys, it seems like a good idea to set aside too many conditions and cut ourselves a little slack.

Give it a try.

Check out my insanely overpriced

The Incomplete Book of Retirement Wisdom

Retired can simply mean refocused.

There is something about retirement that opens your mind to ‘the finish line’.
Saw this sign a while back in Mt. Vernon, WA.
Found it interesting to witness others’ bucket list items.
One of mine: Visit Canada again…either west coast or east coast. Even better–if/when things calm down, take the CP Rail from one coast to the other.
Another one: FINISH one of my writing/content projects.
What’s on your bucket list? Let that list energize your days.
Not sure how to start a bucket list? Take a look at this interesting categorized list of 200 bucket list items.

A writer drifting to new ventures…

Photo by Jan Kohl (Unsplash)

So, yes, the photo suggests something waaaay more exciting, noble, and daring than my ‘new ventures’, but I liked the photo so there you go!

Retirement is still a reality and one of my interests, but I’ve drifted toward:

Anyway, I’ll probably be using retirerenew blog to post links to my other blogs, and a few other inspirations, since they’re all part of the ‘renewal and creative reinvention’ process.

Looking past annoyance…

Yeah, the rest of the world feels like a complete pain in the, well, somewhere on your person.

Okay, not the rest of the world, but let’s just call them the pandemic and the politically whacked-out corners of the world. Quote from a loved one: “This pandemic is pissing me off!”
But here in retirement world, I have to feel grateful…
— for my retirement partner, wife, fellow consumer of baked goods, dog-walking teammate, L, who clearly has a greater capacity/tolerance level for stomaching current events than I do. She can doom-scroll with the best of them.
— for the dog who uses me as his personal piece of comfort-and-security furniture. Currently, his chin is on my lower leg, thus rendering any slight eye-twitch or muscle spasm on my part as an irrefutable message that I am reaching for a food bit to feed him.
— for the pair of mourning doves perched on our fence, within easy reach of my bleary eyes, but brought closer by my trusty binoculars. (And no, neighbors, I only use them to spy on nature, thank you very much.)
— for the fresh-baked 1/2 all-purpose, 1/4 whole wheat, 1/4 dark rye seed bread right out of our oven.

-Bonus! For my ability to still make sense of fractions. [Trigonometry is a whole different ballgame, however.]

— for a day where–even in pandemic times–I have an array of choices of explorations…and distractions.
— for my cameras/phone to record the choice moments of any given day.
— for my/our health to pursue all of the above. [I don’t want to jinx next month’s annual exam, however…]

Here’s hoping you find similar corners of joy, safe from the craziness parade of 2021, aka ‘I’m not 2020, but I ain’t much better’.

Need a quick-and-dirty creativity departure?

A powerful way to unleash your natural creativity | Tim Harford
Slow motion multitasking. Interesting…