Thursday 15 September 2016

Retirement work ethic

We have both worked relatively hard throughout our working lives. I also count staying at home to bring up our son in that statement. Now we are both no longer working, our ethic appears to have not changed much!

Everyone is different. Indeed people tell us how nice our house and garden are, how we are always busy and keep ourselves occupied. More so in summer than winter I might add and sometimes, I can 'get bored' if I find too many hours to fill, especially in winter.

Yesterday and the day before, as part of reducing and getting on top of the garden, I emptied our shut down compost bin onto tarpulin to allow it to dry enough to sieve out the big debris. DB came and helped me tip the full compost bin into the now empty one. Every few inches, we put in a layer of scrunched up newspaper to help keep it aerated.

It was hard work on such a hot day (30C) but we did it in phases. By the end of those two days, the job is finished, compost has been put where needed on the garden, the tarpulin put away and the garden tidied up further.

We know people in retirement whose partners have gone back to work as they just can't abide sitting around. Other who seem to pootle but get nothing much done, others who appear to do nothing at all but lament the state of their affairs..

We are all different and you have to be true to yourself and your core values. I think if you haven't changed how you operate before retirement, you probably won't alter in retirement. However, never say never!

6 comments:

  1. good job done - one I am not looking forward to here! You are so right - it is about mental attitude on getting things done around you and looking outward!

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    1. We swear by lists otherwise nothing of much consequence would get done.

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  2. A great job done, in truth we haven't changed much in our work ethic since retirement.

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  3. I'm a newbie to this retirement malarkey but I think like you nothing much will change.

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  4. After both of us doing full time for all of our working lives, we're living very differently now that we've retired!
    DH always worked shifts, I had unsocial hours, including weekends and late nights.
    I didn't take time off to raise our DS, between DH, DM and myself he was always well cared for, although I was shattered for the best part of eight years!
    Now that we have the chance to relax and do the things we never had time for, we're having days out, lots of short breaks, pottering in the garden, etc. I'm finally able to indulge my passions for baking, crocheting and sewing, there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything we want to,
    We became first time grandparents exactly four weeks ago and are loving spending time with our new DGS, he's just like his dad, in looks and temperament! He's already been to two NT properties with us, Dunham Massey and Speke Hall, he's visited garden centres, been introduced to our favourite coffee shop and has even had breakfast (milk for him obviously) at our local branch of John Lewis!
    DDIL had a very difficult time giving birth to him, so he's been with us a lot to let her rest. Also, she's returning to her career in seven months and he'll be with us every day, so he needs to be really comfortable with us!
    As well as spending time with him, which is just wonderful, I'm sleeping really well, looking after a young babe is a lot more tiring at almost 60 than it was at 29!

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    1. Grandparents I know say the same thing!

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