After labor day, pools close, summer sports leagues end, theater classes perform their last production. summer activities yield to the routine of the school year. and after months of yardwork, people are seen raking leaves, putting away tools, and mulching their flower beds. autumn has come, and the old routine yields to a new set of tasks.
retiring at this time of the year seems fitting. the daily routine of getting ready for work, of preparing lunch, of planning for dinner no longer exist. that routine helped me, without a lot of thinking, to hit the ground running for another day.
that routine, necessary for work, is needed no longer. and it yields to another season in life... that of retirement. but no routine comes with retirement automatically. it has to be built, plank by plank, to support new directions in life.
i have much to do in order to finish up at the counseling center: saying goodbye to clients, completing paperwork, clearing out years of 'stuff', transferring responsibility for projects to other staff members, which will take days of concentrated work. this work is not routine. and saying goodbye to my much loved colleagues is not routine.
at home, the routine has been changed. in fact, there is no routine. each day is 'go with the flow'. even though spontaneity is natural for me, the need for a routine is very apparent.
and therein is the new stress...
having no clear direction, a routine is challenging to establish. the dream of future goals and plans are suddenly now. how do i begin?
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