Adjusting

It's been a bit more than two years since I walked purposely into a classroom with a lesson plan in my head (and in my plan book), eager to interact with my students. Leaving that life gave me the occasional twinge as I faced my new future. During these two years, I have learned that retirement requires "adjustments."

The adjustment most influencing my life has been coping with lack of people. For decades, I was surrounded by more than 2,000 students and peers five days a week in the hallways of various schools, with my attention concentrated on the 125-150 students in my individual classes each day. In recent years, those numbers remained the same, communication after school altered immensely as texting came into prominence. I would receive dozens of texts after (and occasionally during) school from current and former students asking for advice on assignments or “checking up” on me. Texting enabled me to give advice that enhanced homework and kept connections vibrant, and grades in good shape. Social networking also helped but not as much as texting, as, for me, it lacked immediacy.

In retirement those numbers have dwindled significantly. I communicate with about a dozen people each day. The texting has declined to the point I changed my data plan from unlimited to a finite number. Conversely, now that I have time, I am finding social networking intriguing and I have no excuse for not checking it daily. Though I cannot imagine myself as a Twitter user, I keep in touch with others more often, despite being almost repulsed by the apparent need of so many to share the minutiae of their lives with the electronic world. (I really, really do not care how many times you had to burp the baby!)

Adjusting to my new situation has made me consider the efficacy of “no man is an island.” Humanity’s need for society is obvious. My guess is this is what spurs people to volunteer. It caused me to find new people to populate my days - thus I relish my book club, knitting group and quilting meetings. 

I digress, Back to Task.

The second most notable adjustment has been food. I did not realize how much money I spent on fast food and dining out until I am not doing it any longer. I have the time to actually cook and create in my kitchen. I am loving re-discovering the art of food preparation. Mixing herbs and spices and eating what I’ve created is an adventure in itself. I am eating healthier, saving money and expanding my own taste buds. As well as nurturing an almost comatose interest in entertaining small groups for dinner parties. One new plan is to begin hosting luncheons, as more friends retire and have the mid-day hours open.

The third adjustment is that I STILL feel like a high school senior. I have my whole second life ahead of me and I have so many options, I cannot decide which to try first. It is irritating and exciting to open the newspaper each morning, scan the “neighborhood activities” section and find what I want to try that day.  When I retired, I would have antiquated that the wonder of it all would have worn off by now, no so. I look forward to the new people and activities and explorations that are the here of my days.

A corollary to that last adjustment is that I will urge every young person I know to cultivate a variety of hobbies as they mature, so when they retire they already have in place some activities that will anchor them as they begin a new phase of living.