Friday, October 19, 2007

Retiree's Itch

So you retired yesterday. You probably said to yourself when you woke up this morning, “At last, I’m free!” Free from waking up early, getting a quick shower, dressing up and dashing off to your car to beat the morning rush to your workplace. What a nice feeling indeed to be free from the daily grind! Then, the free days flew into weeks, and the weeks flew into months and now you’re beginning to feel useless and bored--from watching tv, tending the garden, playing golf or bridge with your neighbor, eating out at your favorite diner, and whatever it is you were eager to do before retiring. You begin to look for something more “meaningful” to validate your existence in this world.

Boredom and a feeling of uselessness are very common among people who retired. Some people do something concrete about it, some go about life wanting to do something about it but never get to it. What do “retired but not tired” people do? Well, they either think of pursuing interests like travel, painting, woodworking, etc.; participating in community or church service, or starting a small business. For some, it is time to clear up and organize the chaos in their attic or storage shed, and finally deciding to sell the unwanted/unneeded stuff in eBay--millions have done this and have made it their second vocation. Warning: it can be addicting especially when you see your positive feedbacks increasing. So you’re making a bit of money here and there--then, you say to yourself there is still hope for you to become a business operator if you would only try a bit harder.

I’m sure a lot of people have the secret desire to write about their life’s story. We all want others to know how we got the scar on our forehead, our first car, what we did with our first salary or how we managed to stay long in our marriage after all these years, would you believe it? Some would probably want to talk more about their dogs than their mates; some about their gadgets, or perhaps the places they visited last summer. Well, the time is now ripe to bring those stories into the open! Doesn’t matter if you don’t write professionally, just blog it anyway (to the uninitiated, blog is short for weblog, or a personal online journal). The internet has opened a lot of opportunities to people to become writers of different persuasions and intentions.

Quote for today:

"Retired is being twice tired, I have thought
First tired of working
then tired of not."

- Richard Armour, poet

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