One thing I learned these first few years of retirement (notwithstanding the occasional return to full-time work) is that changes have occurred in the things that bring me joy. OK, that may sound obvious, but these changes can come as a surprise- even if you had thought through what was going to fill your days during retirement.
Throughout my working career, most evenings I would take a quick inventory of the things I needed and/or wanted to do the next day. In retirement I do pretty much the same thing, although now that daily list of things includes more things that I look forward to do- one of the many aspects of retired life that makes it appealing. Before I go further, let me list a number of those things I look forward to doing (not in any particular order):
- Take my wife out to lunch or dinner.
- Have an evening glass of wine, usually with my wife.
- Seeing our son, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. If I can’t visit them in the near term, talking to them via phone or Facetime is the next best thing.
- Seeing my brothers or my parents.
- Playing golf a couple of times per week. Even doing an hour’s worth of practice is something I look forward to.
- Travelling to new/familiar places- long car drives or long plane rides (window seats please).
- Worshipping God.
- Watching Major League Baseball or college football.
- Cruises, train rides (both have been in very short supply in the past decade).
- Reading (mostly non-fiction, starting with the Bible) and learning new stuff. Doing the first usually leads to the second.
- Investing and doing investment research, hopefully in reverse order.
- Seeing high school, prep school, and USNA friends whether at reunions or while travelling.
- Visiting old neighborhoods where I’ve lived (of which there are many).
- Long runs, while I still can. Running in a light snow is best.
- Writing. I’ve really enjoyed conducting rudimentary research on retirement-related subjects and turning out written content for the blog, superficial as it might be. But I’ve also enjoyed researching and writing about subjects in which I have some expertise.
- Yard work, for the most part….although those days are numbered as well.
- Doing little things for my wife….like vacuuming the house (yes, you read that right).
Combining any of the above, which is easily done, makes things all the better. Two days ago I returned from a short trip to the DC area that included long drives, talking with former FAA coworkers, seeing my parents (and bringing them goodies they always enjoy, made by my wife), seeing USNA classmates, and having dinner with a cousin. I almost got to add a few more pleasant experiences listed above. On the return trip, I got to exercise our Costco membership for the second time- walking into their stores brings a lot of excitement.
This brings me back to two earlier posts- #51 about Happiness and #69 which expanded on that post. The first post centered on loosely defining happiness as being able to do whatever one wanted to do, whenever, and with whomever. The second post focused on how important close personal relationships are to bringing happiness into one’s life. That’s leading me to identify exactly what brings joy/happiness to this person. It’s an effort that takes some time to collect “data”, and that will invariably lead to asking the next question- why do these things bring happiness? So this is going to be a work in progress.