Category: Interview Questions

Self-Interview: How did retirement surprise you?

Word Art retirement surprises

My previous post listed ten questions I would like to ask retirees.

Question 2: Tell me something surprising about retirement.

I was surprised that it wasn’t easy working for myself. I was too lenient. I allowed myself to drift from one ‘great idea’ to the next without sinking my teeth into any one of them.

I guess I figured that with all the extra time, anything was possible.

I’ve written before about the shiny object syndrome .

I initially entered retirement with a ‘prove myself’ attitude and that too was frittered away by distraction and resistance. A year passed and I hadn’t completed nearly as many projects as I’d hoped to.

Other surprises? I didn’t read nearly as much as I expected to. But I also didn’t watch much TV. Even as I write this, I’m wondering…’what did I do with all that time?’.

More surprises in later posts. Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

Self-Interview: An ideal day of retirement…

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My previous post listed ten questions I would like to ask retirees.

I decided answering those same questions myself would give me a better context for chats with other retirees. So here goes:

Question 1: Tell me about a good day of retirement. Be as specific as you like.

A good day of retirement would include:

  1. doing something new, no matter how inconsequential it might be to others. It might be trying out a new food item at the store or a new restaurant.
  2. baking three-cheese-chive scones or devil’s food-chocolate chip muffins. [I usually lean toward baking something decadent, at least mildly decadent.]
  3. a visit to weekday Mass, where I would get the requisite [for me] fist bump from a buddy as I return from Communion.
  4. writing at least 500 words. I would like to see those words entail a blog post to my inventwithwords.com blog or this retirerenew.com blog. I would like at least 200 of those words directed toward one of my fiction projects.
  5. at least 30 minutes of exerbiking while reading/first drafting.
  6. an evening walk with my wife at either a nature area in town or in the neighborhood.
  7. time with our soon-to-be-adopted dog. [Not even sure who that is.]
  8. a relaxing morning coffee and breakfast with my wife and an ebook, with Keb Mo music in the background.
  9. a glance at the morning newspaper, one that homes in on good news and my favorite comic strips.
  10. sunshine and plenty of time in the backyard to enjoy it.
  11. at least 30 minutes of reading, both fiction and non-fiction.
  12. a check-in on the phone with either a sibling, my friend in Chico, CA, or my friend in San Diego.
  13. doing errands around town and visiting the library with my wife and dog.
  14. watching an episode of Modern Family in the afternoon, as I sip on a strong cup of Italian Roast and nibble on the muffins or scones I baked just 30 minutes before.

I have to say, this was fun. And I know I left out tons of other fun details I could have included.