It's time (actually it's past time) to THANK all of YOU who read this blog (and actually miss it when I don't write) from the bottom of my heart! I'm so grateful that you are enjoying our efforts (Phil takes many of the pictures and often edits for me) and I'm really pleased when you take the time to make a comment! We've managed to attract a few "surfers" who have let me know they like the blog and have passed along their encouragement. That said, here are my thoughts for this wonderful morning in sunny Yuma ...
Before we retired six months ago, I read somewhere that instead of stating that we were retiring, people with plans similar to ours (selling out and going fulltime in our motorhome) probably should reevaluate and designate what we were about to do as refocusing. At the time I didn't know exactly what they meant but as time goes on, I'm beginning to understand. Also, I've come to the conclusion that I haven't given myself permission to do "nothing" yet and I'm suffering from F.O.M.S. ... Fear of Missing Something! Phil is way ahead of me in this regard but even he participates in the question we ask each other each morning, "What are we going to do today?" When we can't come up with something new or different (which so far, hasn't happened very often), I experience a little nagging feeling that our time will be wasted and the gift of this part of our lives, while we are still healthy and able ... is being disregarded and thrown away. What we feel needs to be addressed could be described as getting out of "vacation" mode which is much more difficult than we anticipated even though we are very aware of how different it is from living fulltime in our home on wheels and we are working on it. When the dust settles (however much time that takes), I hope we can find a happy medium where exploring the land around us, viewing all the wonderful natural and man-made sights, continuing our "hobby" of checking out eating establishments, visiting with family and friends, working on genealogy, fishing and exercise can all comfortably coexist in our day-to-day living. But most of all ... I hope we can genuinely enjoy the time we have left (with luck, a long time) and look back when this precious and glorious journey comes to an end without regret.
Eloquently put. I've had fears of "full-time vaction" nothing-to-do syndrome for 11 years of retirement, but that has not been much of a problem -- yet. In large part I believe that is because I have been able to continue working at my former job about one-quarter time. A good arrangement for me. wvm
ReplyDeleteHang in there! You will learn to "relax", "chill out", and just enjoy each day. I did the same thing on our 3-week trip West - - I felt I had to be "doing something" every moment of every day. After years and years of being conditioned to work and accomplish things each day, it is going to be a big change...but you will get the hang of it as each day goes by. I, too, felt that I wouldn't be making the most of the precious days remaining....just take it day-to-day and life will be good. Margie
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