Watching paint dry on the wall

It’s one month later and I survived the first month of my retirement; it went well. 

Reflecting, it amazes me how busy I was in the “rat race” right until the very end.  Closing my business was busier than I would have thought.  You’d have to be self-employed to totally understand. 

My new retired status has come with some perks.  First, I’m sleeping more and that feels good.  The last month of working was stressful and this affected my sleep.  It seems like I was regularly waking up at 3:00 am and staying awake.  Thoughts of all I had to do made it hard for me to fall back asleep. It took a while to break this wake up at 3:00 am nasty habit, but I finally have done so. 

My e-mail and telephone ringing volume has slowed down big time.  No calls or e-mails from clients.  I’ve had a few and they were easy ones.  There may be a few more this new month but they, too, will be easy ones.  It feels nice to have a smaller e-mail inbox and to have my phone not ring so often. 

I find myself looking out the window often, becoming familiar with my new rural surroundings.  And, taking walks and runs in new territory is helping me adjust to my new landscape.  It’s a tad bit harder running at a higher elevation on unpaved rounds of changing grades.  I’m sure in time this more challenging running path will get me back in tip-top cardiovascular conditioning shape. 

But, overall, life is much simpler and not having much to do is an adjustment.  My grandsons do keep me busy but that’s a pleasant busy if you know what I mean.  Still, it sometimes seems as if I should have more to do. 

If it starts to bug me, I can add some challenging chores to my daily regimen.  Like, for example, waiting for the mailman to arrive so I can walk to the mailbox to see if I have mail or, sitting down and watching paint dry on the wall. 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum