Reflections on a Third Month of Retirement

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It was three months ago today that I last worked and it really does feel a lifetime away. In the last month we have managed another trip away when I was able to put my increased fitness to the test. Not working, it really is so much easier to be physically active and also eat more healthily.

I still feel as though I'm taking baby steps towards pursuing my goals of creativity and adventure and at times as I seek to forge my new persona, there are moments of doubt as I can no longer identify myself with reference to my former career. As I have already mentioned in this blog, I am a complete and utter novice in my new way of living. Whilst most of the time that gives rise to complete hilarity, it also means that I have lost my safety net; I am a nobody, an infant with the whole world to explore and skills to learn in order to explore it.

Delacroix said that "those who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything." I have been telling myself this and indeed adopting it as my mantra as I move onwards and upwards freed from the shackles of the quest for perfectionism that governed my professional career.

There have been moments of self-doubt. Can I completely give up the intellectual stimulation of a fulfilling occupation? Will I end up mentally incapacitated without it?

Apparently not for there is a school of thought that in order to exercise your brain you should actually do things that you are not good at. Even Einstein reputedly said that you "should not pursue goals that are easily achieved." Music to my ears and forwards into month 4.


Comments

John Brassey said…
Good luck. Three years in and we're loving it.
18 September 2014 at 23:13
Caree Risover said…
Thanks for that - I can't help but think that it is just going to get better and better; I hope so but presently it remains a discovery of the deep unknown.
24 September 2014 at 10:06
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