I took time off this holiday season, which split neatly into 2 parts. The first week or so was final preparations for Christmas and a series of parties/dinners/gettogethers with friends and family. That was hectic and went by in a flash.
The second week was downtime. Little or nothing scheduled except rest and recovery, which was welcome.
The days were filled with sleeping late, puzzles, reading, watching TV shows (Slow Horses and Succession) and movies (Banshees of Inisherin and See How They Run).
During this time, I started to think about what if every day (or most days) were like this. Meaning, very little scheduled, plans made on the fly, moving from one activity to another.
And what I concluded was: no. Not yet or maybe not ever. I missed the routines, the places needed to be, the time set aside for something. The idea of progress of some sort.
This to me goes hand in hand with the idea (explored earlier in this space) of the need for meaning in retirement. What I concluded (perhaps I’m the last to realize) that for me anyway that meaning has to coincide with some sort of organization of time, some objectives.
So this is something to work on. When leaving the full time job gets closer (still a few years off as I see it), I won’t just junk the calendar, but adjust it. Instead of meetings every half hour or hour, perhaps it is blocks of time set aside for important stuff that I don’t want to lose sight of.
So, coinciding with “what meaning do I look for in life after work recedes?” is “what specific activities am I going to undertake around that?”
And I as I think about it, there’s no shortage of candidates. Time to start writing them down.