retirement - noun - the action or fact of leaving one's job and ceasing to work.
For whatever reason, the subject of retirement seems to be dominating cyberspace this week. The popular site Quora that stimulates online conversations among individuals–who find time to respond to responses generated on myriad topical topics–has been featuring it. As I have been an active participant of retirement for the past six years (although I have taken a few odd, paying jobs on the side just for enjoyment), I have been entertained by what others have been admitting that they do to fill in the blanks of their remaining days on the planet.
Not surprisingly since my generation has ceased to grow up and out of its designation as the Me Generation, for the most part, the retirees lead self-centered lives. I was amazed by some who confessed that they follow the same banal routine every day. One gentleman mentioned that he wakes up each day at the same hour, has breakfast, walks the dog and then feeds it, watches MSNBC for a few hours, has lunch, takes a nap, returns to the dog and its care, does a crossword puzzle, has dinner, and then turns on the television as an encore, allowing it to lull him to sleep. (Maybe on the weekends he does a bit of cleaning and laundry?) Hmm. It is hard for me to believe that anyone would be even remotely satisfied with his mundane itinerary, but apparently, many are.
And then there are the gamers. I am not talking about Gen X, Y, or Z video gamers; I am referring to the 65 and over board or card gamers (and maybe even the golf-tennis-pickleball crowd). Most of these folks are game to keep their minds (and perhaps, bodies) active so that Alzheimer's doesn't creep up on them. I get it. It is probably knocking on my door right now since I just found it hard to recall the name of the condition. Anyway, this agile crew–mainly women–go for Canasta, Bridge, Mahjong, Scrabble, Pinochle, Bingo, and Yahtzee, meeting day and night to follow often complicated sets of rules, competing for first place while chatting about pedestrian topics. With great dexterity, they manage to balance their gaming with babysitting the grandchildren, also a popular pastime in retirement. Women, I've read, are also more apt to globe trot. Some singles and couples have even set up permanent residence on cruise ships.
What I have found to be quite disconcerting is that not one to respond to the topic on Quora (that I saw) has mentioned volunteerism. If you have been following my blogs, you know that I spend at least an hour a day during the week working in support of multiple good causes. For those who are not content with the aforementioned, I highly recommend my course of action. It doesn't matter where you live, you can always find some organization in need of unpaid employees, retired people who still want to change the world in some pragmatic way. Selflessness is its own reward.
The people of my age or older who really impress me are those who don't even wish to touch retirement. They want to work at something that they love until they drop because they don't feel that what they do is actually arduous. You know whom I mean. The Bruce Springsteens and Mick Jaggers and Paul McCartneys and Ringo Starrs of the world. Okay, all of these men are musicians so that some can argue that they have never worked a day in their lives anyway. I agree. But with the right attitude, you can find a passion that pays and keeps your life humming with purpose just like they did decades ago. It is entirely possible.
Just sayin'.
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