Keeping busy in retirment is a good thing

Dawn, Robin, Christina, Elliott

Sometimes I wonder how I found time to work.

My last job was at a high security installation 25 km west of Alice Springs. I'd get up at 6 am, shower, iron a shirt, get dressed, have breakfast and be ready to depart at 7:00 if I travelled by the bus provided or 7:20 if I drove myself.

I'd drive out listening to AM, an Australian radio show on the ABC and arrive around before 8 am. By the time I'd gone through security checks and walked to my office, it would be 8 am. I'd crank up my computer and begin my day's work. At 4:15 pm I'd lock my office, head through the security system and be heading home at 4:30 pm.

Since retiring, I wake up at 6:30 - 7:00 am, switch on the kettle and make a cup of coffee. I then crank up my laptop and read my email. While doing so, I check my calendar and write on a notepad several things I need to, or want to do during the day.

I have breakfast about 10 am unless I have somewhere to go beforehand. I'm never hungry before that, so I don't see any sense in eating. This moves lunch out to around 2 pm.

The rest of my day is filled in with housework, cooking, car washing, or other jobs that don't disappear when you leave work. I also volunteer for three different organisations, one of which I am heavily involved with; the Returned & Services League. I created and manage their internet site (blog site), run the membership program, apply for and manage grants from the three levels of government, work behind the bar when our Hut is open, clean occasionally, buy supplies, and otherwise help keep the place running. This includes turning up for sausage sizzles - see the photo above. 

I'm president of an organisation's management committee and with the help of a secretary, hold and run meetings bimonthly.

Thursdays I attend a Men's Shed where I turn lovely pieces of wood into something else.

Friday is the day I attend any medical or other appointments or go for a drive to a vineyard or go out for lunch.

Between times, I've been writing my autobiography for my children and grandson so that, when I take that journey from which nobody returns, it might answer some of the questions they have later in life. I know when my mother and father died, I wished I had asked them much more about their lives before I joined them.

Psychologist Erik Erikson posited "Eight Ages of Man". In the Eighth Age, one of Integrity versus Despair he said:

... that people in late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure. People who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and they can look back on their lives with few regrets. However, people who are not successful at this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They focus on what “would have,” “should have,” and “could have” been. They face the end of their lives with feelings of bitterness, depression, and despair."

I'm in the integrity part. I've had a great life and have no bitterness, depression or despair about being older and heading towards the crematorium.

I'll keep busy, enjoying the rewards of 51 years of work, helping others through volunteering and continue with a positive outlook until I can't continue.

Robin