This is a weird in-between time for me. I've pretty much come out of the closet about retiring - telling lots of folks. So they will tell others, and everyone will know. But I've got a month still to go, and I rely now on "everything will be different when I go" as my excuse for my pathetic life outside of work. I am doing minimal effort at managing my life and issues, because soon, I'll have time and I'll cope then. I am aware that retiring will not automatically fix everything in my life. Those things I'm not good at in my personal life - I realize I won't magically be on top of everything just because I don't need to go to work each day. But my excuse will be gone. So that'll be interesting to see how I handle that.
I've been seeking advice from retired people. A few things that really resonate: pick one big thing. Don't vibrate between volunteering at the animal shelter and volunteering at the nature center and travelling and visiting and hosting and getting politically involved. Resolve to do one thing, and do it well. Then, maybe, pick up some of the others. But start with one. (I actually have something specific in mind, but it has several aspects to it.) I also have a huge number of self improvement projects in mind, and again, I need to pick one. For starters.
Another piece of advice is don't commit to anything long term right away. Do the one thing, but do it at a level that you can back away if it's not the right thing.
I have a lot of plans for the month of June - centering around having large numbers of friends come stay - and I have no plans for anything specific after that. I want to sail, I want to garden, I want to run, I want to hit the road, and I want to overthrow the patriarchy. And I want to write about doing all those things. That sounds do-able, once I no longer have this stupid work thing sucking up my time, doesn't it?
Thirty-four calendar days to go.
