We Carry Business Cards When Traveling: RVing in Retirement
Retirement is the best job we’ve ever had
Retirement requires an attitude adjustment. I’ve had to teach myself that it is OK to not feel stressed, overworked, and continually striving to complete a task.
Growing up our identities were assigned by what we accomplished or our professional positions. Mine shifted often. As a child I was a daughter, student, friend. Then I married and morphed into a wife, adult, mother. Now, at the age of 59, I am retired so I am . . . Well, still all the above but someone new and undefined.
Traveling has awakened a love of living for myself instead of fulfilling a role assigned by others. It provides a freedom to make decisions based on no criteria other than my desires, or not make any decisions at all. Traveling during retirement is awesome!
When I meet someone new, they always ask, “What do you do?” The word retirement labels me. A list of activities illustrates what I do, but somehow this answer doesn’t qualify as appropriate. In the past, my responses were easy to state and easy to understand. It has taken me awhile to embrace retirement, and not feel guilty about not getting up every morning and going to work. It became necessary to acknowledge I earned it.
Now, in response to the, “What do you do?” I respond, “I am retired.” This announcement provokes a pause, causes confusion, and leaves the questioner questioning. Profuse adulation congratulates me on this achievement but is countered with another question, “What do you do now?”
Why do I have to do something? When I think about a response, I wonder how to answer. When asked by a stranger, my immediate response is to explain what I used to do. “I worked in education as an English teacher and for nine years a middle school administrator.” This provides a beginning for our conversation which usually includes a statement about the challenges of education, how teachers deserve more respect and should be rewarded with higher salaries, or that English was their worst subject. All topics from my past that hold little interest to me in the present.
Eventually, the conversation circles back to their original inquiry, “What do you do now? Maybe I should respond by relating what I accomplish each day. “This morning, I made a large breakfast for my husband. Then we sat in the hot tubs relaxing, followed by some water aerobics. When we returned to the RV, we grabbed the leash to walk the dog for about an hour. Later we plan to play shuffleboard, read our books and end the evening playing games with friends on the patio.” Somehow, I don’t think this is what they want to hear.
The dictionary provides definitions of the separate parts of the word Re-tire-ment. I warned you that I was an English teacher!
Re: “pertaining to or relating to”
Tire: “exhaust, fatigue or wear out”
Ment: “the result of an action”
According to Noah Webster when all the pieces are assembled, retirement is the result of a life that leaves a person exhausted, fatigued and completely worn out. Yes, when I first retired, I felt worn out. But now, with my husband, we are traveling around, sightseeing, going for long walks and reading good books. Now I feel challenged, invigorated, excited.
Since childhood, opportunities to do nothing were nonexistent. I woke each day needing to achieve a specific goal or numerous goals. Now when I wake up to my dog licking my face, I have choices that are not dictated by a script. I make decisions of what to do or not do based upon how I feel — not on what I must accomplish.
Retirement: (n) withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from an active working life.
Ick! Yuck! Ew. Apparently, my existence is defined by what I am not anymore. This makes me feel less valuable in retirement or that I am no longer active. As I focus my efforts to reinvent myself, I am examining who I am.
However, just to fill the gap, when that question is asked, to increase my confidence and be able to hold my head up in respectability, I now have business cards. I am a professional retiree.