Retirement has been a learning curve. Filling days with meaningful activities that replace work is always a challenge for retirees.
Yes I know many retired people claim they are busier than when working. I think that is crap.
Replacing a 10 hour work week- 8 hour day and travel/preparation time is the fact.
There are always normal daily routines that keep us all busy. But being busy may not be meaningful to everyone.
For example, I do have more time to do more housework. I can keep areas of the house neater.
For an intelligent woman that is not enough. A cleaner house. Big deal. So I keep my working cleaning schedule. I am not going to vacuum every day just because I am home. I am not going to make the happy homemaker my main role. Boring and boring again.
So what brings meaning.
Social outings and connections. Time with my husband and family and friends.
Reading more books. Trying to read anything and everything. Magazines like the Walrus, Canadian Living, Zoomer, Good Times as well as home renovation/decorating ideas. Of course the Internet is in my face with the streaming of so much information
I like reviewing what articles magazines publish. Does it give me some areas to submit my writing?
Crafts. Finishing projects in a timely fashion. I have different craft projects at different locations. Panels of a wall hanging by my computer to do while I watch a movie or documentary on Prime. A knitting or crocheting project in the family room while I watch TV with my hubbie. The trick for me if my hands are busy than I do not go to sleep while watching something.
Writing and more writing.
Research. The tedious work like City Directories for ancestors takes time but retired I have that kind of time. Newspaper research. Ditto. Tedious but have yielded some gold nuggets for my family stories. I like researching better than actually writing up the information. Remember genealogical articles and family stories are not creative process. They are methodical and must meet genealogical standards to be worth their weight in salt.
Fortunately many projects and activities can be done from home. God Bless the Internet and all the Facebook groups that provide information. Especially those Genealogy Groups. Places to post my articles and research so it is in la la land in case my computer decides to crash.
Yes I will write some more articles for Genealogy branch newsletters. My bug though is the amount of editing that needs to be done to satisfy the editor of the newsletter. When I post to my blog or facebook group, I can post a first final draft and to several locations. Then if I want to submit to a newsletter, I can edit and send a second final draft. I find the writing and compiling all the research is very cumbersome. So just getting it done, post then revise later works for me. Besides it is a family story. Not a submission for a Giller award. Since I have had some responses to those articles that have helped with my research and brick walls, I would rather send out the article to the world. For me moving along in my family lines is the bottom line as well as providing stories for family.
Am I rocking retirement? Sort of!
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