Retired from Work, Not from Activity

This is the case with my wife and some of my former colleagues. For others, retirement is a much welcome relief from the daily stresses and demands of a job, bosses and colleagues, or clients. But the question of “What are you going to do with the rest of your life?” looms like an existential crisis over your head. This nettlesome question keeps some of my former colleagues at work, even though they are fine to retire from a financial perspective. Thankfully, the “crisis” element hasn’t been too serious for me.

Ellen and I knew we wanted to travel and had a bucket list of countries to visit. Discovering that we both enjoyed cruise ship travel was a pleasant surprise. So far, cruising has far surpassed our expectations and we hope to travel as long as our health allows. I definitely have more time to spend with family and friends. Home and cottage maintenance of some sort keeps me busy, too. Nevertheless, this is not enough to fill my days.

I read that volunteering is a good way for seniors to stay active socially, mentally, and physically. I didn’t get a chance to investigate local opportunities, because the opportunities seemed to naturally gravitate towards me. The only initiative I took was to join a writing group at Tartu College, sponsored by VEMU Estonian Museum Canada. Creative writing is something I always enjoyed, yet it was not something I could have said with absolute certainty I would take up as a regular activity.