Author: kathleenmc1953@sbcglobal.net

Why you should start a blog in retirement: Is there more to life than being entertained?

Posted on by kathleenmc1953@sbcglobal.net

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It seems that I often have too much to do with too little time to do it in. This is more the case for me now that I am not working and have more time than ever.

Paradoxically, when I was working more than 60 hours a week, I seemed to have time to do everything. It came down to the built-in efficiencies that I had to come up with out of necessity. This kept me functioning in the world-as-it-is but gave me precious little time to come up with ways to create the world-as-it-might-be. The pace of modern life only allowed me to keep my head above water.

Whether we retire when we want to or when our health or finances dictate that we have to, there is an adjustment period. Our first inclination is to establish a routine that gets us out of the house and among others. Initially this may be enough. But it is very easy to fall into what I call the “entertainment trap” after a while — TV, movies, celebrity gossip, gaming — distractions which can appear to be innocuous initially but which take us away from ourselves eventually. This ultimately is very unfulfilling. We take but do not give.

To get myself out of this trap I started blogging. I felt that my background in mental health might enable me to give people a little guidance on how to move forward in their lives. I had no idea how this effort might change me.

When you work in any field you become an expert. This is true whether you work as a clerk, a doctor, a social worker or a mechanic. You know the ins and outs of what you do and often you don’t think about it too much. Not many people remain engaged and interested in what they do for a living. Your work becomes routine. You put one foot in front of the other and make assumptions along the way based on past experience.

So when you suddenly are freed from the constraints of a job’s structure you are able to look back and see all the things you were too busy to mentally digest in your daily experience. You are given a fresh perspective.

What you did and how it formed you is valuable. What can keep you busy now is not the mundane details of maintaining yourself in the work and social order of things but, instead, giving others the opportunity to learn from you, especially younger people. In a culture in which values and mores are changing rapidly those who are just starting out need an anchor. You can provide it.

Blogging is a way to find out what you really know and what you may have done differently given more time to step away and gain perspective. Others can benefit from your experience. Now is the time to show the way.

Detour on the road to success: Trusting intuition

Posted on by kathleenmc1953@sbcglobal.net
Route 395 Eastern Sierras
Ca. Route 395, Eastern Sierras: Kathleen McCormick, 2014

In the United States we are a goal driven society. We often set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals for ourselves. We strive to obtain these goals and then we beat ourselves up when we don’t. Do we ever stop to ask ourselves: is there a better way?

The interesting thing about life is that it is most interesting when we trust our intuition and end up somewhere that we didn’t expect. Listening to our intuition about what to do next is obscured by goal-setting. Intuition is often in direct conflict with goals.

Yes, goals are good to have to achieve something in the traditional sense but they often weigh us down and drive us forward into courses of action that we find no fulfillment in. Ask all those achievers who are secretly and sometimes not so secretly depressed. You can get somewhere and still be nowhere.

Money and status are the barometers of success in the developed world yet I often have observed that those with much less in other parts of the world often seem happier and have a much better sense of community. Let’s face it, success can be isolating; it can create jealousy and discord among one’s peers. I’ve found that the happiest successful people do their best to minimize the perception of their success. In a word, they are humble.

So, how do you get somewhere you want to go? Yes, make a plan but be open to the subtle ways that life can take you in a slightly different direction on a whim. The happiest people got somewhere not by clawing their way to the top but by putting one foot in front of the other and staying open to where the joy of what they were doing took them. It really is the journey not the destination.

And, when and if you get there, remember don’t be too full of yourself. After all, if you’ve had some fun on the way you really can’t take yourself too seriously.

That’s the best kind of powerful.