I know we get laughed at in Canada because, well, we’re Canadian. Living in igloos and such, as the saying goes in other parts of the world, and walking around my favourite urban pond the other day in minus 40 weather may well have proven their point. Except for the fact that 40 below can be stunningly beautiful! The crystal clear blue sky in stark contrast to the heavily laden snow all around. Add to that the multiple days of pea-soup fog that froze in the night to create a thick outline of hoar frost on every branch as far as the eye could see. Well, it was truly a winter wonderland worthy of donning multiple scarves and mukluks to witness.
Perhaps, though, I told myself, the greatest joy came from the fact that I was walking at 10:00 on a weekday morning. That’s prime corporate meeting time and I was in the great outdoors instead of the grand conference room! Doing something I love and allowing myself leisure time on a ‘workday’ really felt like I was ‘sticking it to the man’! I had retaken the hours of my own day, after many years of marching to other people’s schedules. Soldiering on through deadlines and fatigue, and denying myself many things that bring me joy because there just wasn’t time enough for all of it.
There’s a saying that there are three stages to retirement: go-go, slow-go and no-go. I am definitely feeling the possibility and wonder of the go-go stage, relishing freedom and allowing things to proceed a little more slowly around me. It’s resulting in a renewed energy and interest in new projects, too. I’m looking at a few part-time and contract gigs, planning a trip, vacuuming almost every night. With joy!
What else might I do with all this time and energy? Maybe write a column for the local paper! I took a pottery course many years ago and enjoyed it, maybe I should try that again. My retirement specialist has reminded me for the past five years, since we began working towards this new phase, that I need to be investing in my social bank as well as my financial bank. She thought I should have a number of new things lined up to simply step into so that I wouldn’t feel lost or lonely through the transition. Well, there had been no time or energy, so the opportunity to stock up on my social assets has been lost.
But, then again, I think if one is to strike while the iron is hot, one needs to wait for that darn iron in order to respond. I didn’t have any interest in investigating community choirs and meeting new friends until now. At the end of a long day of work, I only wanted to put my feet up and read my book. It’s only now, in this wonderful ‘go-go’ stage, that the iron has struck for me. One never knows how long each of the three stages will last, so while I’m in ‘go-go’, I’m going to get going and enjoy it.