The unstructured retirement.

Yesterday I took Scout down to the beach. We’ve been avoiding it since she had a lump removed from her back a week ago, but it’s healing nicely and her little jacket hides it away from the sand.

We arrived around 10:30, just when the classes at my old work would crowd through the halls for recess. My view was far nicer, and so were the smells. Hormonal year 8 boy smell is no joke.

My unstructured retirement plan is working nicely.

By ‘unstructured’ I mean that I’ve deliberately avoided putting regular things in my schedule when I’m at home. I don’t belong to any clubs or classes, I don’t have a regular café meet-up on a Monday… that sort of thing. I deliberately keep my days as free as possible, so that I have the freedom to wake up each morning and choose how I’m going to spend my time.

Maybe this freedom wouldn’t work for everyone, but teachers’ lives are STRUCTURED, with every minute accounted for as soon as we set foot through the gates each day. When I was there, the periods were 48 minutes long. Every minute was accounted for, with the bells punctuating each day. It’s very regimented.

Now? After decades of this, I’m loving how the days slip like pearls through my fingers.

It’s worth all of those years where I worked hard and watched every penny, scrimping to keep the mortgage on a downward trajectory. The years where I taught and did Thermonix and raised my four children were BUSY, but now I feel I’ve earned the right to be lazy.

Some days, it’s enough that I start and finish a book. I’ll indulge my natural laziness. Other days, I’ll be out in the garden all afternoon, working to try and ensure that we grow the maximum amount of food we can.

Pretty much every day, I do what I FEEL like doing. It’s not a bad way to live a life.

As an aside, I really tried to stop aiming for the maximum amount of crops this year, as I’ll be travelling so much next year when everything is ready to be harvested. I only bought 3 tomato plants, instead of trying to cram a thousand of them into the garden beds. Then I was given 8 tiny tomato seedlings from someone at Walking Group. It seems to be my destiny to grow tomatoes by the tonne.

When I say I’m naturally lazy, I’m not really joking. My default position is sitting on a couch, with a book in my hand. The years of working, where the important parts of my life were crammed around work, now seem like a dream. I’m able to rate my productivity in actions that advance my happiness, rather than in the number of grammar tests and essays marked.

At the end of each day, I spend a minute or so checking in on how I feel about the day just gone. I’ve learned that I like to feel productive, though of course ‘productive’ is a term that can mean many things.

Did I write a blog post?

Did I go out and socialise?

Did I create something?

Did I chase a vacuum cleaner around?

Did I book another holiday? (Haha!) I have to pay for Iceland today. Such a hard life…

Did I do something out in the garden/do the shopping/go to Bunnings?

A day when I feel that I’ve advanced in making my surroundings more how I want them to be, are the days when I smile and feel a warm glow of satisfaction. Something done in the house, the garden or the sewing room – whatever that ‘something’ may be – counts toward moving forward to the life I want to live.

I enjoy the unstructured life I’m creating when I’m at home. It’s especially sweet when I mix it up with the travel I’m planning. There’s such a contrast! I’m not doing slow travel – maybe I’ll save that for when I’m older. My travel is all go! go! go! I want to see ALL the places EVERY day!

Who knows? Maybe, as retirement goes on, I might gradually start to fill my weeks with activities. I already have the walking group each Thursday, which is the only commitment I feel ready for. I see Mum and Dad once or twice a week and talk to them most nights for a few minutes. Living with Scout and Georgia gives my days a loose rhythm. Everything and everyone else happens when it happens. That’s all I need right now.

People sometimes worry that they won’t be able to fill their days once they retire, so they keep working out of fear of being bored, even when they have enough money to pull the pin. This is such a shame, because boredom doesn’t happen once you’re free.

The freedom and ownership of your time is the key.

I don’t feel bored. Ever.

It’s because I have the freedom to stop and start any activity I choose. So if I’m doing something… say – reading a book – and I start to get a bit tired of doing this, I have the freedom to stop it, get up off the couch and do something else. I’m not bound by anyone else’s timetable. So I might grab the lead and take Scout for a walk. I might pop out to the garden and do a bit of weeding. I might call a friend for a chat.

And when I get a bit tired of doing that, I have the freedom to go and do something else right away. I have complete ownership of my time. Any activity I choose to do is because I want to do it. It’s such a different way to look at your time, instead of being in a job.

Total freedom is the greatest gift that you can give yourself. It’s precious and wonderful.

It’s worth working towards.

Dad Joke of the Day: