Good day, my friends! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted anything to the blog. I have learned that you need to write when the mood hits you. It is not something that can be easily forced. Well, today it is AGAIN below zero degrees outside and the mood hit me so it’s a perfect day for an additional blog entry.
Today I want to briefly discuss one aspect of my favorite retirement book, “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free” by Ernie Zelinski. As Zelinski says in the book’s preface, “[t]ruth be known, after the novelty of the retirement lifestyle wears off in a month or two, you may feel the you don’t have any reason to get up in the morning.” Zelinski further states that “[r]etirement can be both exciting and demanding…. Retirement is the perfect time to become the person you would like to be and do the things you have always wanted to do.” Zelinski’s premise is that to “retire happy, wild, and free, you must stay active. It’s also important that you have goals and dreams.”
You have attained true freedom in this world when you can get up in the morning when you want to get up; go to sleep when you want to go to sleep; and in the interval, work and play at the things you want to work and play at – all at your own pace. The great news is that retirement allows you the opportunity to attain this freedom.
Ernie Zelinski
In chapter 3 of his book, Zelinski notes that many people looking forward to retirement feel they will find plenty of things to keep them occupied. But, he notes, many individuals don’t have nearly as much to keep them occupied as they had anticipated. One of my favorite quotes in the chapter is “[r]etirement should be a reorientation of living. We should call it disengagement from a full-time career, ‘self-actualization’ or ‘self-realization,’ rather than ‘retirement.'” He then takes the reader on the journey of developing their personal “Get-a-Life Tree,” a creative approach to generating a substantial number of choices of activities we may want to pursue while in retirement. The retirement activities are based on three principal ideas: activities that turn you on. now; activities that turned you on in the past but you have stopped doing; and new activities you have thought of doing but haven’t yet done. You can, of course, add other principles that you want to drive your activities such as “activities that get me physically fit.” These principles represent the major branches on the tree, with the identified activities serving as the secondary branches. Zelinski recommends that you identify at least 50 activities, or secondary branches, on your tree.
As for my Get-a-Life Tree, it is built around six principles and contains well over 50 secondary branches. At the risk of boring you with too much information about me, I’ve attached a PDF of my tree for your information. The native Word document contains links and other tools to make it interactive and fun to visit.
As I reflect on the list of items in my tree as I write this post, I am surprised at how many items I am now doing and at how incomplete the list is! In other words, I am finding that there are things I didn’t put on the list that I now enjoy doing (e.g., cross-country skiing and snowshoeing). Further, there’s nothing on the list that I now don’t want to do.
In closing, I have two thoughts. First, as to my “self-realization,” I’m doing quite well, thank you. I am having fun cooking, spending time with family, working out, listening to podcasts, reading and engaging with my wood shop again. Plus, I’ve caught up on some sleep! Second, if you’re interested in hearing Zelinski talk about his book and retirement planning consider listening to the following two podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-women-talk/id326386061?i=1000417825299
As always, I’d love to hear feedback from you. Let me know if you found this post interesting (or not), and if there are other topics you have on your mind. Until next time, have a great day!
Hi Gary – I looked at your life tree, and you don’t have “writing” or “blogging” on the life tree. Did I miss it, or is it bundled in with something else? Just seems like you enjoy writing and you “get a mood” to do it.
Sounds like you are doing well!
Thank you, Keri! You are correct, it is not listed. I need to update my tree as it, and I, continue to grow and mature. Thanks for noticing and for your kind words. I’m doing well and looking forward to the joys that warmer weather will bring.