Disorientation

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It's been a funny old week. There's something about work that keeps you very much rooted in routine and the day to day. In my previous career driven life I do not think I ever awoke thinking "Whoopee it's Saturday," only to find that it was really Monday (or any other weekday come to that) and that I had an office to go to when I was actually relishing a day out with the family.

Here in retirement and, as I have alluded to before in this blog, with no fixed routine,  it is, I confess, easy to become disoriented with time. So I have had a friend to stay but somewhere, deep in the recesses of my mind, friends only stay at weekends; that's right isn't it, because midweek we are always working? More than a year in and the rhythms of retirement still conspire to defeat me on occasions, because it was actually Tuesday and Wednesday that she stayed. That was great because mentally Monday did not then arrive until Thursday and by then it was almost the end of the working week. Confused? Well I certainly was.

Sometimes I still have to pinch myself to check that I am awake and not dreaming, and that I really do no longer work. Of course, because I don't, weekends are a meaningless entity anyway. Yes I have a calendar on the wall and an electronic diary synchronised on all my devices but whether an appointment falls on a weekday or weekend, it is of no difference. 

Who needs days of the week when you are retired? They are useful for knowing when the bins have to be put out for emptying but everything else can be done virtually any day we choose.

In fact I have even been wondering if life could be simplified by throwing away all our clocks and relying simply on the sun. The trouble is that it is usually cloudy and whilst I may be able to tell the difference between night and day, I'm not too sure that I could accurately  make a doctor's appointment or yoga class on time. 

Still there's a certain lure to giving it a go and really freeing myself from the vestiges of the working years with their dependency on clock watching. To get the full benefit of the experience we would presumably have to avoid television, the radio and computers; indeed anything that might constantly update us as to the hour of the day. An ultimate break from modern life and its reliance on alerts, alarms and notifications. Maybe a state of total disorientation so far as time is concerned and one step on from that currently induced by retirement could prove to be the zenith of relaxation. Watch this space: I feel an experiment coming on.


Comments

Unknown said…
I needed somebody to ask me that question. I've always been a bit of an insomniac but with no routine and quite a lot of time online, it feels like nobody is there in the daytime and they only wake up in the evening. That leaves me talkig to people when its their lunchtime and I should be going to bed. Trouble is I don't.
Maybe I should move back to England? Oh no, I don't think so, can't afford it :(
13 August 2015 at 05:08
Caree Risover said…
Pros and cons of the internet - endless opportunities but the disruption of bedtimes. Moreover here in England, you'd only find yourself chatting with people on the West coast of the USA and the same issues would still arise.
16 August 2015 at 20:44
Debra Journet said…
We really try to keep the weekends "different." Not quite sure how, but I really don't want all the days to blur together. Though coming off a week of non-stop company, I am a little disoriented myself.
18 August 2015 at 02:40
Caree Risover said…
I think after decades of working we have all developed a weekend psyche. For instance we still avoid wine during the week and treat ourselves at weekends.
18 August 2015 at 21:35
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