In theory, retirement frees you from the constraints of work-related commitments, and allows you to use that time to pursue interests and activities that you never had time for before. It provides for a little “me” time, if you choose to use it that way.
I say “in theory” because it took me 3 ½ years in retirement to finally free up the time from the community work I was involved with to start to work on this blog! So, for me, and possibly for many of you, the first learning might simply be to avoid getting so heavily involved in one thing that you don’t have time to pursue the other things that interest you.
One of the things that I am acutely aware of is that, above all other things, I do not want to want my personal development or growth to stagnate, or even worse, begin to regress. I want this part of the lifecycle to be as filled with the same trials, tribulations, and triumphs as the first two-thirds of my life has been. It is the only way I know of that will ensure that I will continue to grow as a person.
Good old Wikipedia states in part that Personal Development (redirected from Personal Growth) “covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations.” That pretty much sums up where I want to head — except for the facilitate employability part of course.
Personal growth can be achieved in many ways. It can centre on exploring the things you’ve always enjoyed and wanted to spend more time doing, it can mean trying out new things, or it can involve taking on challenges that you would never have previously considered. For some of you it may actually be taking on a new type of work. Important in establishing new pursuits or continuing old ones is that the process assists you in keeping your mind and body sharp, and helps you keep growing as a person.
One of the things I do to ensure my own continued personal growth is a lot of reading. In part, I will be using this category to post links and summaries for articles and books I have been reading on the chance that you may find them of interest as well.
Next Up in Personal Growth: Thinking about what sorts of things you might like to take on in retirement that will keep you moving along the personal growth and development continuum.
