Potholes on the retirement road

Dear Viswamitra,

Talking of drastic changes in lifestyle after retirement, yes, there will be some changes.

1. You won't necessarily have to get up at an early hour, get ready and leave the house by say 8 am.

2. The regular source of income from your job will not be there - unless there is a pension scheme and that might be less than what you get from your job as of today.

I faced this issue when I had to quit my job. My life earlier had been geared towards running around from morning to evening, coming home in between classes, cooking. So effectively, I used to leave the house at 7 am, come home at around 11 am, leave again at 2 pm and come back by 8 pm. Before that, it was college, various training courses etc. which used to be a full time occupation. So yes, it was rather tough getting used to the idea that I was "just" a housewife and having to do away with my financial independence - believe me, it killed me mentally for a while.

What I see of myself today is a changed version. My attitude towards being a "housewife" changed because I found my home was running more efficiently when I was there to keep a watch on the domestic help. I started viewing it as another skilled, full time job and was glad I had the time to be there for my mom. I started reading a lot of books (something I always loved and never had the time for earlier) until social media happened to me. And then .....

Being grounded at home brought a lot of new hobbies to my doorstep in the form of birds and sunsets and a camera. This was something I had never even thought of earlier. I now feel sorry for not having had the time in all those busy years to even notice them.

Though I loved cooking (I am an avowed foodie), I never was into sharing recipes etc. But FB cooking groups have changed all that.

So retirement is not such a bad thing after all, if one has other interests to re-kindle or new interests to develop. The comfort of being able to do those at one's own leisure without any time constraints or bosses is unparalleled.

As for my husband - well, that is a different story altogether. I dread the day he retires and starts poking his head into all the domestic affairs - it is bad enough now. That is one reason I need to prepare for vanaprasthanam should he decide to enter his "grihasth"ashram after retirement. Mercifully for me, an astrologer has told me he will never retire. :-D So on that happy note, let me go looking for more threads to wrap my head around.

 

Dear Viswa
Thanks for this post. Though we all think about life after retirement your keen observations are helpful in rethinking our plans.

I agree with most of your views except one.
It is also a bit confusing.

Catch-up spirituality: I am planning to do exactly what you listed in the first statement under this category. I don't believe this has anything to do with character building.

Perhaps you have been able to travel a lot all your life, visiting many places and don't feel the need to do so after retirement. But our circumstances have not allowed us much travel and there are many places we want to visit - the Vatican, Mecca, among them.

I have a long list of books I want to read and among them are Narayaneeyam, Theivathin Kural, the New Testament, and the the Holy Koran.

I tried to read all these the past many years but my mind would not focus while it was bogged down about the next meeting preparation, the next federal allocation of funds, the to-do lists at work and home, children, parents, etc.

I strongly believe that yoga (exercise) is very important especially after retirement. Not only does it help in healthy body but in healthy mind too.

So all I have is hope. Hope that after retirement I can

[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]I am bit confused by this statement: [/FONT]

Isn't what you listed also a form of yoga?

Good article. Thanks for bringing to fore many points to think about before retirement.

 

Thank you for the clarification Viswa.
Yes, the impression I got from your original post was that you were not recommending those things you had listed.

I apologize if I offended you. Those are the things I am really looking forward to after retirement; hence was important that I had that point clarified.

I repeat my earlier last statement:
Good article. Thanks for bringing to fore many points to think about prior to retirement.

 

Dear Viswa Sir,

What a lovely post Viswa Sir. You’ve summed it up so well…
When my dad got retired 3 yrs go, more than anyone of us, my amma was in a panicky state. She was so worried how a busy man like him would deal retirements.
But you know what, he’s even more busier now. Busy doing what really pleases him to do. He heads a retired officers association, he works on their cases, writes articles, conducts workshops and training programmes, so many his hands are always full
He could spend the whole day reading and writing, I wonder how he could do that. He says its therapeutic for him.
Likewise you too gona have a great retirement days, I have not even an iota of doubt on it. Though you still have lots of time )) 3 yrs is long, there is no guarantee I would be working for next couple of yrs

PS - Viswa Sir I had to tell you, last time u calling me parineetha disturbed me a lot (((..it was only Neetu all this while You told am like ur daughter, so shouldn't be so formal and had my responses been hurtful, treat me like a rebellious daughter n forgive me pls..