31 December 2022|Thoughts about
Sitting here at my kitchen table it's hard to believe I am approaching the end of my first year of retirement; it has gone so fast. Ahead of retirement, I said that I wanted a period of "doing nothing". A time to decompress from work, recharge and see what might come my way. If I hadn't been properly prepared for that I think I may have jumped into doing something else quite quickly simply due to a fear of doing nothing and a concern about being idle.
I'm reminded of listening to Simon Mayo's drivetime show on Friday afternoons when I commuted home from work. He used to play a Bing Crosby song called "Busy Doing Nothing", with the lyrics:
We're busy doin' nothin'
Workin' the whole day through
Tryin' to find lots of things not to do
We're busy goin' nowhere
Isn't it just a crime
We'd like to be unhappy, but
We never do have the time
That sort of sums up the last year. Now, I've not done absolutely nothing but I've not done nearly as much as I thought I would do. The pile of books is still as high as it was, the guitar hasn't been touched and I still don't know any Italian. But I did complete a big sponsored walk, move house, do some decorating, oversaw the refit of the kitchen, organised tree work in the garden and spent days chopping logs, marshalled at the Open and played lots of golf. Now that we've moved into winter I've taken a six-month membership at the gym as there's less opportunity to play golf.
More importantly, I've spent a lot more time with my girls and appreciated all the things I missed when I was working and away from home most of the day. There's so much day-to-day stuff that I wasn't involved in, like the chat on the way to school and then hearing all the drama after school too. Hearing about their day without being stressed about mine has been good. My wife is working locally now too so we see more of each other too. These seem like little things but the impact on quality of life has been considerable. Before I retired and we moved here, we had a great standard of living but I'd say we didn't have the best quality of life. I think we've found a much better balance now.
It's been a pretty expensive first year due to the house move and renovations, but the cost of running the new house is much lower than our previous house. There is also so much more to do (for free) on our doorstep now. Fantastic walking and cycling options, stunning beaches, shops, bars, cafes and obviously the golf too. There are great options for the kids with the University sports facility offering lots of options for them if they want it. They even tried surf school this summer as well as tennis and rock climbing. I hardly use the car any more so downsized to something smaller and more economical with the added benefit of being much easier to park in St Andrews too!
All in all it's been a good first year. Busy, but not demandingly so, definitely restorative and life-affirming.
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