As I rebuilt this webpage, my first task was to retrieve files of my previous blogs and repost each one. It soon became apparent to me, as I reread and reposted, that my primary focus had not changed from the days when I was involved in my teacher career.
In the first years of retirement, I prioritized activity-packed days; essentially, I was attempting to recreate in retirement the busyness of my career. One of my posts, What Am I Worth, made the point that worth is not determined by the money earned – an idea I still believe. However, in place of money, I substituted productivity.
I look back now, after 13 years of retirement, and I am compelled to list the accomplishments – what have I done, how have I used the time? If I am honest, I have accomplished some goals that I set as a new retiree – but have not achieved others.
So, what should my response to that be? Should I feel guilty? Should I increase my efforts and drive myself to work, work, work to accomplish more?
Or should I shriek: STOP!!
The obvious answer: I should shriek stop!!
I need – yes, another paradigm shift – to incorporate time in each day to simply slow down, and – cliché intended – smell the roses. This kind of attitude, in itself, is an achievement to be desired – time to relax, time to meditate, time to appreciate the displays of nature that surround me, and to turn off the computer and silence the cell phone – these are the kinds of activities that result in being strengthened physically and refreshed emotionally.
I am looking again at the 10 Commandments and focusing on one that I have essentially ignored: Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Note that the word “sabbath” means “day of rest.” I am amazed. God Himself has ordered us to rest – to stop the activity and the quest to be “productive.” Why did he include that command among all the “Do not’s” that warn us away from deceptive and dangerous paths?
The obvious explanation is that He, too, rested on the 7th day of creation. But I believe He knows that many of us, such as me, would continue to rush headlong into busyness and never take the time to give our bodies and our souls the quiet, the peace, the inactivity that would rebuild our physical and mental stamina.
And so, I am purposely taking break time – and am ending this post by escaping to my little patio with a cup of tea and a fat novel – while I am there, I will look up from my reading occasionally to look at the golden leaves on the autumn trees and watch the clouds moving across the sky. I will come back to my blog on another day – but for today, I am resting.