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The feeling of being needed is one the greatest highs you can attain in this world! That will be one of my challenges in my retirement years (65, almost there!), is feeling needed!
I'm thinking, perhaps, just do one home care case, once in awhile, or find me a needy roommate, so I'll have someone to cook for, other than myself!
I'm sure other ideas of feeling needed will come along later!
I started tutoring reading to 3rd graders because I myself had a difficult time learning to read due to illness & missing school. I found that I could spot rather easily what the children were struggling with and was able to help every one of them. The "old methods" from the 1950's just seemed to work better for these particular children so it was very gratifying.
When you suffer from similar problems, I think it gives you an insight.
The feeling of being needed is one the greatest highs you can attain in this world! That will be one of my challenges in my retirement years (65, almost there!), is feeling needed!
I'm thinking, perhaps, just do one home care case, once in awhile, or find me a needy roommate, so I'll have someone to cook for, other than myself!
I'm sure other ideas of feeling needed will come along later!
Feeling needed but not used is a tremendous high.
One I ascribe to.
Me too! We wake up... nice day, golf (him) walk 5 miles (me). Rainy day, read or shop. Whatever. The only plans we make are to see grandkids because it involves other people who are busier than us. I love when we get a last minute invitation for cocktails or when we set out to do A and do B instead and have even more fun.
They just hung around, did nothing and we're bored.
Suddenly, they needed to care for a grandchild.
Now they are structured and purposeful. Would you say you're aimless or live for a purpose?
AND are you happy?
I wanted to be structured and still kind of do - so a combination of both.
I plan my year in advance. But its maybe 4 things that I have to schedule - mom's birthday, Christmas, and maybe a wedding. Couple of trips. That is my schedule for the year.
we'd bought our farm/ranch with an outlook of being able to raise our own vegetables and livestock, keep our horses, enjoy our dogs, and grow alfalfa hay for our own livestock and for sale. Without knowing what we were really getting into, it's a full-time occupation, but we like having control of our food supply and the beef, pork, poultry, and lamb that we've raised ourselves. We now know that in time, we'll not be able to do as much of the physical work so likely lease out the pastures and croplands, and operate the greenhouses/gardens with the help of outside labor. For now, we hire outside help with the bigger chores to assist us, but I still do my own crop cutting/raking/baling/retrieval and stacking, and manage my own irrigation work including repairs and maintenance on the pivot sprinkler.
On top of that, after 50 years of working as a mechanic and owning my own shop for most of that career, I'm still fascinated by doing that type of work. So I have an arrangement with a nearby farm equipment repair shop where I can put in as many or few hours per week doing those things that I really like doing, typically 20-30 hours/week. Gasoline or Diesel engine overhauls, servicing, transmission overhauls, electrical systems, and a lot of hydraulic controls or component repairs. In addition, I work on my own equipment and outside projects, such as a recent major engine overhaul on a DT466EGR in a 24' International box truck. Just put a H-D motorcycle on the road for a friend with a carb replacement, sealing oil leaks, and a new tire. I may not move as fast as I did years ago, but I still can get the work done and enjoy doing it. The shop I work at knows I can't lift the heavy stuff anymore, so I don't do the engine removals there ... but once the engines are out of the frame, I take over the projects.
As long as I've got my health and capabilities, I've got lots to do. With the farm/ranch responsibilities, we are taking less time off now than we did years ago, so I only fly about 40 hours/year where we used to fly about 100 hrs/year, traveling to the back country for camping, hiking, and fishing.
When we get away from the farm, we'll head up to our 2nd home in Vail for the outdoor activities there ... even though we don't ski the steep and deep like we used to, we still enjoy the cruisers.
Have no interest in just "sitting around" without doing something. The farm/ranch certainly adds structure to our lives, and our other interests exceed our time to do them these days. So we have a lot on our plate to do on any day.
Aimless, yes, as I'm a gypsy soul that is searching. My husband, who was my life, left this world. I was forced to reinvent a new life. I spend a lot of time researching new places to live where I'd have better opportunity to evolve a new and purposeful life again. A little structure is good, and so is a little creative aimlessness. I hope to eventually create a balance of both. Best wishes to all in their retirement pursuits
I'm not retired yet, but it's around the corner. With that, at 55 I am not worrying about the future. I live for today. Sure, that might be a mistake in not planning, but I choose to flow as opposed to script.
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Presently Aimless
