Fellow retirees, I wanted to share this excerpt from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits.
My favorite points from:
How to Be Thankful For Your Life by Changing Just One Word
I was cruising through my phone’s photo library for a certain shot from a while back and I realized I had captured so many moments that I really had not appreciated.
Lesson to self: Don’t just take photos. Relive them. See what emotions and richer details are recaptured. Make your past as enjoyable as the present. And it might even lead to a fuller, more deeply appreciated future.
Probably not a headline you run across all that often…
Been busy with this latest venture into ‘something new’:
https://inventwithwords.com/2018/10/27/the-journey-to-a-50000-word-novel/
There HAVE been obstacles:
https://inventwithwords.com/2018/11/04/national-novel-writing-month-day-4-the-struggle-is-real/
Am thankful I have my ‘retirement hours’ for what now feels like more of a challenge than I intended. [Note: I AM typing this one-handed.]
Let’s define ventures : forays into something new.
Goal: At least ten new ventures for the weekend. I’m giving my Do Something Dice a week off. Hey, we retirees write our own rules! Here is the list so far…I’ll be adding incrementally through the weekend.
1. A Reading to Fight Hunger Magic Barrel
2. Friday afternoon: Attended the dedication of statue to Dick Fosbury, the 1968 Olympic gold medalist from Oregon State University. Fifty years ago today, he revolutionized the high jump event with his patented flop.
3. Start a new board game design. Lots of mental math involved, that much is certain.
4. The crust is made, the apples from our backyard tree are sliced/diced, now it’s time to explore: https://www.delish.com/cooking/g326/apple-pies/ And the decision is ‘Apple Pie with Salted Pecan Crumble with some variations. I used hazel nuts instead of pecans and I added plumped-up dried cranberries.
5. New place to walk Buddy, our recently-adopted Aussie Shepherd mix.
6. New TV Show: The Rookie. I liked the characters, but didn’t need the gritty gore.
7. New music to listen to—I started with a new playlist on Spotify: Good Morning Jazz. That led me to Kokoroko, an Afrobeat Collective
8. A new breakfast burrito for lunch at La Rockita, along with their quality chicken torta.
9. New books:
Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process
The Wizard of Foz [Subject: Dick Fosbury]
How to Bake by Paul Hollywood
10. A new tofu cheese recipe from Green Evi . No, it doesn’t completely replace real cheese, but I like the flavors and the protein and the lower fat content. [i.e. less guilt].
11. A Sunday where I read only the comics. Done!
12. Two new biscuit recipes. Sweet potato biscuits and savory herb biscuits. As I usually do, I improvised by adding cinnamon, allspice, vanilla, and maple syrup to the sweet potato version. My starting point is usually Bert Greene’s half-white flour, half whole wheat Sky High Biscuits recipe from The Grains Cookbook.
I opted for bite-size for more concentrated flavors…and less guilt.
[Same calories….but less guilt.]
Here is my itinerary for the weekend…
Do Something Dice.
Roll for your next adventure.
According to this roll of the dice, over the next two days**, I should aim to:
How did I do last weekend? Grade: D
**I actually count Friday afternoon as the beginning of each retirement weekend.
During my year, I lost a relative and our beloved dog.
No fun…just when I was settling in a bit to my new chapter.
How to deal with sadness?
Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings blog reviews Michael Rosen’s Sad Book.
The book’s and the review’s main points really hit home.
From Popova: Rosen welcomes the layers of grief, each unmasking a different shade of sadness — sadness that sneaks up on you mid-stride in the street; sadness that lurks as a backdrop to the happiest of moments…
From the author: Really I’m sad but pretending I’m happy.
I’m doing this because I think people won’t like me if I look sad.
Take a look. We’re all in this living drama together.
Note: I retired for twelve months and learned plenty. I’ll be posting at least one stepping stone per week. Each of these lessons or impressions from that year off will constitute a mini-chapter in my book-in-progress. [Yes, that’s one of my unfinished projects. ;->]
The above links are not affiliate links.
I’m also looking at setting up an online community.
If you’re interested…
