The benefits of work.......

What a wonderful day--sunshine, 65 degrees, snow almost melted, and what did I do?  I sat in front of the computer working on budget spreadsheets.  But, as it happens, I feel really good about that.  I've been spending quite a bit of time this month (and last) working on paperwork for the Chorus I belong too.  When I got started at it, there was a tinge of resentment associated with it, but now that I am well into getting a (whole) lot of things organized, I have a different feeling.

I am accomplishing something concrete.  I am writing, thinking, computing, planning, strategizing, and organizing.  I have put a plan in motion, and I am following through.  Four hours of paperwork is translating into something I feel proud about.  Since I retired almost 12 years ago, I have had periods of intense activity, joining groups, spreading my "enthusiasm" around, and certainly taking things seriously.  But often those bursts of activity would give way to long periods of semi-activity.  I gave up quite a few things because I didn't feel the end result justified the amount of time I was spending on them.  But with that abandonment, there was also a relinquishing of the sheer pride in "work."

Of course, I have my quilting, and that is a creative activity that continues to bring me a lot of joy.  But I must admit that I am not so singularly dedicated to quilting that it can occupy me "24/7" as it were.  I need to exercise my mind, too, and not by just reading books and magazines.  Anyway, it's just nice to rediscover the joy in a few hours spent in contemplation, thinking through problems and postulating potential solutions, and just "staying in the box" for a while.  There was much I was more than happy to give up about work when I retired--the constant stress of worrying about jobs for people, contracts to be negotiated, personnel problems to solve, but I did miss the way that work flexed my "mental muscles."

Well, just some observations on the "retired" life and how it adapts and changes as we come to view things differently with age.  Having said that, and having finished a good day of "problem solving", I think I'll go have a glass of wine and plan dinner....