Someone asked me; “what did you do after you retired from work? Did you get bored?”.
Oh, not at all.
Actually retirement gave me the freedom to pursue activities that I couldn’t do while I was employed.
“So what do you do all day? ”
You’d be surprised that my life is full of activities. When I was employed I woke up at 5:30 to prepare to go to work; so much later than nowadays when my day starts at 4 AM. After coffee and a shower I’m already out walking with my friends and neighbors at 5, if not earlier.
My morning exercise is also my “me” time; an hour and a half navigating 10,000 steps. This is an interesting time I spend with friends sharing stories, experiences, jokes and laughter that make our day. It is also a time to “smell the flowers”, taking photos of vibrant flowers and photos of ourselves.
Sometimes I walk alone
Back home is a leisurely breakfast with Jim; something we couldn’t do when we were employed, except maybe on weekends then.
My breakfast is slice of papaya
onion-tomato omelette and rolled oats cooked with ground flax seeds.
This is an overnight mixture of a cup of the cooked oats, a teaspoon of chia seeds, a cup of yogurt plus a drizzle of honey.
Jim’s breakfast is varied everyday; totally different but more nourishing and not as stereo typed as mine. But together, we cap our breakfast with a refreshing cold drink of green tea latte.
Having been energized with endorphins after our morning walk, we are in a good mood to talk. Our conversation is diversified; from news about our children, to current social and political issues, to last night’s podcast we listened to, the sports we watched yesterday, the latest stories of the morning’s walk and so much more.
I take time drinking my green tea latte while I check the photos taken and compose my Facebook post. I scroll through my Facebook feed; reply to messages and email. When done with that, it would be after 8.
I go to the garden to check on new plants, to talk to the plants; massage the tips of my rubber plants; cut off dry leaves and trim overgrown bougainvillea stems. It is easy to forget time while gardening.
What’s next?
I bring out the mise en place for lunch to see whether I can leave them to my assistant to cook herself.
Then I rest a bit; back to my current novel. While doing so, I often doze off without knowing it. And when I wake up, it is almost lunchtime.
And that sums up my typical well-spent morning that starts as early as 4 AM; absolutely no time to get bored.
From last night’s Democrats campaign speeches by eloquent speakers for Kamala Harris, I was struck by the words of former President Barrack Obama when he said of Kamala's opponent, former President Trump’s administration.
“We have seen that movie and a sequel is often worse”.
But that is not true to my life, both before and in retirement. My life is as good before and my sequel is even better.
Like all the Democrats speeches last night that emphasized freedom in so many words: my retirement life is also freedom. The freedom to spend my time the way I choose and the way I need to.
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