Five days beyond work

Well, it’s really only 3 ‘what would have been work’  days beyond work as 2 of them were weekend days.  It is, though, a whole new mindset.  The possibilities are endless-there are so many choices and things to explore-just where to start!

I filled most of my first day beyond work by spending it at a spa on the premise that what you do on your first day sets a tone for all the days to come.  After a work-a-day career, the thought of the unstructured freedom has not yet fully sunk in.

An example of my new mindset was a Saturday morning ritual…. receiving and opening up the Globe and Mail.   What was totally different was how I read it.  For I have routinely (or at least for a considerable length of time) separated the paper into sections and gone directly to the Financial section and from there directly to the segment entitled Financial Facelift.  I was keenly interested in people who were about our age and stage in life and considering life beyond work.  I’d look at their assets and liabilities and compare their status with ours and look at what the experts had to say.  This Saturday I didn’t go there first-I thought that article will wait its turn.  It’s interesting . I suppose if we haven’t got a fair handle on this sort of planning by this time…….well, we should quit buying the paper for we likely need to be saving those resources too.

It will take some time for me to shift gears.  Last night I thought about baking muffins for the morning and then I thought-hey-I can get up and make them in the morning!  No need to rush off for that routine morning commute.

There’s been time for good long hikes with friends, dinners and theatre and reading in the afternoon and maybe even a little nap here and there-knowing there’s time for those other things like laundry at any time I’d like.  Time and space to settle into what comes up next.  What luxury.

I do have to take some time to thank so many people who contributed to my farewell “next chapter” party last week.  I’ll do some personal thank yous, however I thought I’d try my hand at a cartoon response.  After you look at it, the old phrase “keep your day job” may come to mind.  Oh, wait-that won’t work-I don’t have a day job!

My first Simply Biscotti excursion needs to be taken too.  I wonder if we became subject to the Financial Facelift what the experts would say about a monthly expenditure entitled biscotti and decadent desserts.