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| Clouds rolling in this morning for yet another rainy day. Once the weather improves we’ll head down the mountain to explore a few more villages and grocery shops. |
It is never our intent to imply that life as nomads is easy and that each day is comparable to a vacation day. Nor is it our intent to portray retirement, in itself, as a means of a sense of total freedom. There’s no free lunch.
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| Another sitting area the vines will soon overtake. |
How early we are presented with this lesson in life varies from individual to individual. How quickly we actually learn it, putting it to use, for many of us doesn’t come until the realities of life in retirement slap us in the face.
Those realities? That our life is moving fast into perhaps, our last 20 years on this earth as we know it. That’s the money we have access to could literally fade into oblivion in the precarious financial world in which we live.
That our health, regardless of efforts, we have or haven’t made, hangs in the balance of a combination of factors, over which we may have little control. That the person(s) we love with whom we spend each day may suddenly be snapped from us or may fall into a state of poor health, leaving our own last years as an exhausted caregiver.
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| Our sloping yard as the clouds roll in. |
Depressing? Yes. Immobilizing? Emphatically, not for some. Sadly, yes for others. And then, for those trapped in the uncertain middle, there are good days and bad.
For those that choose to be immobilized, we have little to offer other than our love, attention when possible, care as needed. Inspiration is tough to render. It’s all a part of who we are, who we have become after a lifetime of shaping our psyche.
But, for those of us, who chose to “master” retirement, striving for happiness, fulfillment, purpose, and joy, it’s a daunting task, almost as if it was a job, the very state of being we abhorred in our last working years.
Is there no escaping responsibility? Not really. Is there no escaping the planning of the very things we must task upon ourselves to ensure we stay busy, fulfilled, and happy? No.
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| Never much of a gardener, I think these are hydrangeas. |
It all translates to “how” we do it? Not so much as “what” we do.
If it’s reading mindless novels languishing in a familiar comfy chair by the window, overlooking one’s less than perfectly manicured lawn while waiting for the grandchildren to arrive or, it’s jumping out of airplanes at 90 years old. Whatever it may be matters if we can find the peace, the acceptance, and the purpose to our remaining time as we feverishly grasp at the morsels of significance which ultimately give us joy.
Several of our readers have written to us, asking if we are lonely or bored, perched atop these hills, in a land of no English, no coconut oil, no movie theatres, no nearby restaurant in which to pop in for breakfast for a three-egg omelet, a side of bacon, and a slice of avocado. We’re not lonely. We’re not bored.
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| The lovely spot where we occasionally sit enjoying nature. |
We spend each day doing the things that those of you have chosen to “master” retirement. We laugh. We eat. We read books we love. We watch shows on our computer. We get up early to savor each moment of the day. And most recently, we began playing the card game, Gin, another version of mindless drivel as we continue our “job” each day, simply, for being happy.