Changes

Last week was my first week of retirement.  Since Monday was Labor Day, it was only a four-day week, which is always good.  As it happened, I had engagements of one sort or another planned during each of the four days (ooh, I don't have to compete for those scarce evening haircut appointments anymore!!).  Thus I got out of bed each morning, albeit later than during my working days, got dressed, and actually got any number of things done most of the days.

Today is Wednesday of week two.  Monday went great because I had plans.  Plans for some errands, then plans for trying a new dinner recipe--an attempt to create a favorite restaurant meal featuring exotic new (to me) spices.  I did miss a massage appointment that had failed to register in my brain as being on that same Monday with those other things, but otherwise a perfectly executed Monday.

Other than that, week two features no daytime engagements.  I have things going on in the evenings, but my days are free.  So yesterday and today I have failed utterly at the very first task, getting out of bed.  I am having breakfast now at 11:27 am, which is about when I made it to breakfast yesterday.  Yesterday I managed to go for a walk, and that's it.  I excused this as a deserved "day off".

I thought about the realities of being retired for a year or more before I actually retired.  In the weeks prior to retiring I began making lists.  I have categories of daily activity: cleaning/gardening, working out, creative pursuits, volunteering, house projects.  Each category has bullets of all the things I haven't managed to do up to the present, but imagine I will do now.  What I discovered in the days of week one is that even if I assign an hour a day here, two hours there, I need roughly 18 wakeful pre-dinner hours per day to fit everything in.

So as of this morning, here are the things I have learned.  Before I go to bed each night, I need a plan for the next day to bribe/cajole myself out of bed.  Planning is not my favorite thing, but it looks like maybe one of my first tasks needs to be: plan the rest of the tasks.  It will help to schedule at least one fun thing each day (fortunately my bar for fun is pretty low).  I am considering getting myself a big bag of gummy bears and telling myself I can't have any unless I've finished doing something.  Ooh, first task: get bag of gummy bears...