So, the New Year is here, and folks are busily making New Year’s resolutions about how they are going to improve their lives in the new year. Looking ahead, not a bad idea, but do the resolutions get achieved? Ye olde Interweb has been awash in memes about New Year’s Resolutions and whether or not, they might be kept. My favourite is:
“I don’t call them New Year’s resolutions. I prefer the term, casual promises to myself that I am under no legal obligation to fulfill.”
Seeing all this New Year’s resolution activity going on, gave me pause to recall that a number of years ago I wrote a piece that generally provided some ideas about what one might do with one’s time in retirement. Not resolutions per se, but loose guidelines just like in my favourite meme – all in pursuit of personal development and growth, of course.
So, why not look back to check on my progress, instead of ahead?
I went back and looked it up to see if it was worth revisiting and reflecting on how I’ve done against my own suggestions. The article was entitled “How Will I Fill My Days … and Grow at the Same Time?” I have “reposted” it on the homepage, so it is handy for you to access if you would like to read it. If you established some goals or outlined a plan at the beginning of your retirement, you may want to do a little reflecting along with me on how that plan has progressed for you.
If you are not yet retired, this might be a good time to do a little reflection about your retirement ahead. Things like; is my financial retirement plan on track? have I laid out what things I would like to do or accomplish once I have that free time? will I volunteer in my community? should I consider planning for future travel? etc. If you are the sort of person who would like to continue working in retirement, perhaps you could do some reflection on what that will look like… full-time? part-time?
In my previous article, I used Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences as the framework for organizing activities or enterprises retirees might want to consider. The idea was to provide some new ideas on how to stretch yourself and possibly point out things that weren’t on people’s radar yet. The idea was, no matter what it is we aspire to do, intellectual, physical, or existential, it’s all rooted in the brain, so to me, it seemed like a good place to begin.
As I said in the article, these were off the top of my head suggestions. You will probably be able to come up with ones that are of personal interest to you.
So let the reflection begin. I have copied the activities I suggested under each of the individual intelligences in my original article, and I will do a little analyzing about which of these, if any, I have been working away on. And, because it is a time for reflecting/planning/resolutioning… is that a word? … I am going to give myself a little nudge about what I can be working on in the year to come.
The Big Review
“Spatial – explore drawing and painting, photography or videography, orienteering, sculpting, or designing (lots of choices); learn to fly or sail; play chess; study architecture, cartooning, or art history; or learn about and practice film making”
What I’ve Been Working On:
The “Spatial” thing that has consumed a lot of my time in retirement so far, has been the taking of MANY pictures and honing my photo editing skills as best as I can, without the use of a full-blown editing application like Photoshop. Many of the pictures I take are for use on this website.
What I Plan on Working on In the Year Ahead:
I have already signed up for a photography course to enhance my photo-taking skill as I find my current “create a professional shot” ability to be pretty pedestrian. I also plan on taking courses that have to do with shooting and editing of movie clips for my website so that I can expand my use of them. I also think it’s time to invest in a photo editing application and devote some time this year to honing those skills.
“Linguistic – write just about anything (poetry, short stories, articles to submit to magazines and newspapers, a newsletter for some group you are involved with), create your own blog, study literature, become an oral storyteller, join a book club, take public speaking or debating classes, learn a new language, learn computer programming, solve word puzzles, play word games, attend lectures, edit the writing of others, study to be a TV or radio presenter, take up acting, volunteer at a theatre”
What I’ve Been Working On:
Given that I spend an inordinate amount of time, thinking about and writing articles for this blog, I think I have kept this intelligence fully exercised since I began retirement.
What I Plan on Working on In the Year Ahead:
A major goal this year is to produce a book… Largely based on the content of this website… And get it published. I have already purchased the Scrivener application and begun to layout a framework and build content. I think a very good goal for this year would be to ensure that I do some writing for either the blog or the book each and every day… even if it is only half an hour.
“Musical – learn a musical instrument, join a choir or take singing lessons, start composing music or writing songs, study an area of music you have an interest in, attend concerts, volunteer at a music event or concert venue, study to be a sound engineer, collect music or information about music”
What I’ve Been Working On:
Here is another one where I had to chortle when I contemplated my “musical” activities. At the beginning of my retirement, I was, in fact, playing my guitar a little more than I had prior to retirement, but I never did get around to taking lessons on how to improve. Ultimately, my guitar ambitions were totally negated by my health issues. I will never play a conventional guitar again.
That is because the use of vasopressors to keep the blood flowing through my veins during my many attempts at dying resulted in necrosis of my fingertips, and all my toes. Not pretty. Necrosis is black deadness just like serious frostbite looks. No fingertips, no guitar playing.
To all you guitar players out there, that probably seems unbearably awful. However, this particular sad story had a bit of a happy ending. Because of my situation I decided this past year that it was time to sell my guitar. Even though I was not a great guitar player I owned an acoustic guitar that was highly coveted by serious players and collectors, a 1940 Gibson J 35. This was my father’s originally, and it came to me when he passed. I have to tell you that it sold for an absolute pant-load of money. This eased my pain considerably 🙂
On top of that, just after the guitar was sold, I discovered a severely beat up old guitar case in the basement hidden behind an old dresser that I had completely forgotten about. It had originally belonged to my father’s best friend, and it was passed along to my father when he passed away. I remember opening it years ago when it ultimately came to me and thought that it was the most beat up, dirtiest guitar I’d ever seen in my life. After which I closed the lid, put it away in the basement, and completely forgot about it.
The discovery of this second guitar led to a delightful twist in the story. I had previously decided that I would buy a resonator, or slide guitar, which would be played in an open tuning, resting on my lap. All I would have to do was slide the steel back-and-forth with my wonky left hand and pick away with my right hand… I knew I could do that.
The climax of this particular narrative occurred when I pulled out the case, flipped up the lid, and looked in to discover… it was… a resonator guitar made by the official Dobro company in the 1930s. I took it to the nice folks at Folkways Music (one of North America’s top vintage guitar rail retailers right here in Canada) who sold my Gibson, and they fixed it all up very beautifully for me.
What I Plan on Working on In the Year Ahead:
I guess what that all means going forward is that when I get back from Spain, I will set up some lessons to learn how to play the thing. I guess my guitar playing days are not fully over just yet.
“Logical-Mathematical – track your family finances, develop your spreadsheet skills, take a math related course (basic, high school, accounting, statistics – start at a level comfortable for you), take a science-related course (astronomy is a great one to begin with), conduct scientific experiments (don’t be afraid to start with kids’ stuff, especially if you have a grandchild you can do it with), solve logic puzzles or play strategy games, learn all about your computer”
What I’ve Been Working On:
I think the Love-goddess would say that I spend too much time on this one. J I track of all our finances in Quicken and do a lot of modelling and secondary tracking in spreadsheets. This intelligence gets well and truly worked out in my case.
The other thing that I did recently that would fall under this particular intelligence is that I took a course related to the use of WordPress, the content management system that this website is based upon. I would have to say that it was a particularly fulfilling and worthwhile undertaking. I learned a great deal… Some of which you will see reflected in new features on this site in the coming year. I definitely plan on taking additional courses in the future.
What I Plan on Working on In the Year Ahead:
I suppose I will just keep on doing what I’ve been doing.
“Bodily-Kinesthetic – take up a new sport, get re-involved in a sport you used to play, develop fitness routines, start hiking, learn how to scuba dive, take dance lessons, learn about your body and how to take care of it, study massage, learn a craft or trade, broaden your cooking skills”
What I’ve Been Working On:
When I got to this one, I actually laughed out loud. I have to say that I did upgrade my workout regime as I got into the full swing of retirement. I was going to a fitness club where I had a membership on a regular basis. It was great. A couple of my buddies were there at the same time, so it was nice to have someone there to talk to when I was thundering away on the treadmill. And there was lots of golf.
However, in November 2019, my bodily-kinesthetic endeavour “Fit the Shan” as we say in the vernacular. I will spare you the whole litany of horrors, but you can go back to the article I wrote about my serious brush with death if you are interested in some of the details. The result was that after four months in hospital, I could not even roll myself over in bed. My muscles had all atrophied during my stay in the local ICU where I was fully intubated and unconscious for five weeks at the beginning of that particular drama.
A couple of wonderful physiotherapists taught me how to walk again and set me on the path to recovery. It has been a long and arduous back, but I now walk quite well again. I resumed golfing regularly this past summer and have resumed a fitness regime at home on some new equipment we bought during the pandemic. Onwards and upwards!
What I Plan on Working on In the Year Ahead:
Definitely more of the same for the coming year. We are off to Spain shortly and I know that I will have days filled with long invigorating walks with the Love-goddess. There is nothing quite like strolling along the edge of the Mediterranean under azure blue skies to get you outside and active. And I will ramp up my fitness activities on our home gym, and hopefully at some point this year return to the gym. Although, going back to the gym will probably be more of a function of Covid safety than how I am doing physically.
“Naturalistic – gardening, volunteering at a nature/animal preserve, flower arranging, volunteering at an organic farm, learn more about what you eat, study botany or biology, join a community beautification group, become a collector (rocks, orchids, etc.)”
What I’ve Been Working On:
I’ll have to admit when I first started contemplating this one, all I could come up with was, “buddy, you’ve been doing absolutely nothing in this regard”. Except, after some reflection, it dawned on me that I spent a lot of time each spring and summer working hard at making our small, urban yard look as beautiful as possible. I guess that counts. Who da thunk? Sadly, I did not think to take some photos of how nice these plantings looked throughout our yard, so I only have the one, not terribly wonderful shot, shared here.
What I Plan on Working on In the Year Ahead:
This will be another one of those more of the same. I will remember to take some nicely staged photos to show how nice the yard looks in 2023. And if I’m going to take pictures, I might as well use them.
That means, that about one year from now I will post another article sharing how I followed the plan I am outlining here… complete with photographic evidence. You may not be interested in reading about it, but it will cause me to do another retirement reflection on the year behind me. Which is probably a good thing to be doing on an ongoing basis. I will leave it to you to decide if you think that is something you should be doing as well.
“Intrapersonal (understanding oneself) – think about and record your personal strengths and weaknesses, then work on enhancing them, trace your family’s history, develop a plan for your own personal development, start a journal, begin writing your autobiography”
What I’ve Been Working On:
I’m pretty sure a lot of what I write about and post on my blog would be considered intra-personal thought. Surely, this whole piece has to be counted as a serious bit of intrapersonal reflection… I’m thinking.
What I Plan on Working on In the Year Ahead:
As for 2023, perhaps I will come up with a bit of a plan for personal development. I certainly enjoyed taking the WordPress course, so it might be time to do some planning around things I want to improve on and how I can grow personally. I suppose I could even follow one of my own suggestions and do a “Ben Franklin List” of my strengths and weaknesses. I’m sure if I asked the Love-goddess she would have lots of suggestions for inclusion… hmmmm… No, that’s a nonstarter for sure. 🙂
“Interpersonal (interacting effectively with others) – study negotiating, become politically active, coach a team, join a group, study psychology or counseling, volunteer to work on a team project (e.g. Habitat For Humanity), volunteer in a public facility (library, hospital, etc.), tutor”
What I’ve Been Working On:
I suppose I started out in this area going full tilt. I was very actively involved as a volunteer with one of Canada’s most historically significant music festivals for the early part of my retirement, but, when it got to feel more like a full-time unpaid job, I decided to take a break. I did go back for another couple of years when I was asked to do so, but I have been laying low ever since… And then I almost died, and the pandemic put an enormous dent in group sorts of actions.
The Love-goddess has certainly been doing a much better job in this regard than me. She has been active in her attempts to make “a basic income guarantee” a reality for all Canadians. Well done! So maybe there is room for growth here.
What I Plan on Working on In the Year Ahead:
In the coming year, I am going to try and extend the reach of this website in the hope that what I am doing is of benefit to a much larger group of people. I think I will even try and arrange some public speaking opportunities to share what I have come to understand about life in retirement.
So, there you have it. My look back over my retirement to this point. You can be the judge of whether you think I have been successful in my efforts are not.
Am I Satisfied with My Efforts?
Am I satisfied with my own efforts? That is the most important consideration here. I guess I have to say that I am. Going through the process of thinking through all of this and writing about it has definitely helped me put it into perspective. I feel like I have continued to grow personally since I left the work force and have the sense that I have contributed to a greater community.
Is There Anything Missing in All of This?
The other thing that happened when I decided I was going to write this piece was that it made me think… Did I get things right in the beginning when I put this little multiple intelligences framework together? My first thought was, no I probably could have done a better job of identifying related attributes.
My second thought was, I’m pretty sure I can add a whole whack of new attributes or activities to each of the intelligences. In the end I didn’t. Largely because upon review I felt they were sufficiently broad and provided reasonable guidelines for the kinds of things related to each.
However, as I was finishing off the last “Interpersonal intelligence” section of my review, it dawned on me that in fact, there was an enormous omission that had to be corrected. That being, the interpersonal interactions with one’s sidekick and partner in life.
As I think back, I’m not absolutely certain it was mentioned in any of the MI articles that I read before beginning the piece. I’m going to have to go back and pull out Howard Gardeners original work that I still have on the shelf, and see if he mentioned it at all. However, this is an incredibly important consideration in retirement.
Spouses and partners are at home and together on a full-time basis like most people never are during their working lives. There is a whole new level of interpersonal interaction and togetherness going on. AND, this “lots of extended togetherness time” has been exacerbated during the pandemic, when couples have been locked up at home with little contact with the outside world, and nowhere to go.
I think there will be a whole piece in the works sometime in the future about this aspect of retired life. 🙂
The Ben Franklin List
I suppose I should provide a brief overview of what doing a Ben Franklin List is all about. He used it for problem-solving. The idea is you grab a piece of paper divided into two columns and put the two things that you want to compare at the top of each of the columns. By way of example, it might be “Pros” and “Cons”.
He had a strategy to analyze the two lists, leading to a decision being made, but that isn’t absolutely necessary. In my case, I would simply study the lists and look for ways to improve myself and actions. Probably incorporating some of the good attributes I see identified. I’ll let you know how it all turned out. 🙂
Let’s meet here again next year!
