"Weekdays revolved on a sameness wheel. They turned into themselves so steadily and inevitably that each seemed to be the the original of yesterday's rough draft. Saturdays, however, always broke the mold and dared to be different."
~Maya Angelou
One of the big questions I have about life after retirement has to do with identifying my natural rhythm. I've been getting up at 5:30 AM every morning for a long time and going to bed by 9 to get the sleep I need. I have a friend who used to live in a tree house without electricity or running water (long story) and he used to talk about waking and sleeping with the light like an animal. He'd wake at dawn and go to sleep when it got dark.
I claim to practice what it will be like in retirement on the weekends, but even without the alarm, my body is programmed to wake up early and jump into productivity. What other parts of my life are programmed by my work routine?
My weekends also have a pattern--wake early, run errands or do chores I don't have time for during the week, take time to plan and cook something special, may be take a short road trip or get involved in a hobby. Will this rhythm run my days in retirement?
What I'm noticing:
- that I fear retirement will be endless days of today's weekends
- that I get bored on many weekends
- that there is some anxiety around not having a plan for the weekend
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I love the quote about Saturdays! It's so true. And it's one of the reasons I haven't allowed the kids to get too involved in sports. I love my down time on Saturdays, and I don't want them to become just another day to be somewhere at a certain time. Saturdays just "are".
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