One year on

 

I realised the other day that it was a year last month since I retired from work, so I've been thinking back on the last year.

In the weeks leading up to my retirement, many of my work colleagues asked me what I was going to do with myself when I was no longer working.  I had lots of plans and projects in mind.  I was looking forward to having more time for the  garden and allotment. I was going to be looking after 2 of my grandchildren before and after school 3 days a week. I had hobbies which I'd not had much time for in recent years and wanted to take these up again, knitting, sewing, crafts, baking.  There was also the pastoral work which I am involved in at my local church.  That was enough to keep me busy for a while.

I worked for the NHS as a ward clerk on a busy orthopaedic ward. It was a very demanding and at times quite stressful job.  I was very well organised, in fact I was probably a bit of a control freak. But I really did love my job. When I went back a few months after finishing work to see my work colleagues, they were surprised when I said that I didn't miss work at all.

I was so glad to get away from that mad, manic busyness.  It was great to be able to relax and please myself what I did everyday.  I am still busy, but busy doing what I want to do.  There aren't enough hours in the day sometimes.  When I worked I often heard retired people say they didn't know how they had ever had the time to go out to work.  I now know what they mean by that.

I saw retirement as a new phase in my life, another role to take on, like starting a new job almost.  But doing what I wanted to do, not being bound by rules and regulations.  I'm still very organised,  having grandchildren commitments means I have to be and I love being involved in their lives.

As I look back on the past year  I can see how much I've achieved.

• I've lost weight and I'm more active now. I don't 'do' going to the gym--walking and gardening help me to keep fit.
• I've mastered  my camera and how to upload photos. I'm now sorting them out into folders. Still lots more work to be done there.
• I wanted to improve my writing skills. I've made  a start, here I am writing a blog.
• I've converted a spare bedroom into a craft room.
• I've had a massive paperwork clear out and reorganised our filing system for bills, statements, policies etc. There's still 2 bin bags of shreddings waiting to go on the compost heaps when there's more room.
• Done loads of knitting.
• Tackled a few new projects in the garden.

These are just a few of the things I've done this past year and there are still projects I'm wanting to get on with. Now maybe I'll start to make my plans for the  next year!