When I started this blog, I was going to call it ‘Retirement Interrupted’ because I felt our life has been put on hold since this pandemic erupted. This morning I listened to a TED talk that is making me question my assumptions and helping me put things in perspective. The speaker battled and triumphed over leukemia. In her talk, she described that her existence had been interrupted while she went through this time in her life.
The reason why I felt our retirement had been interrupted was that I was thinking of retirement as our next trip, vacation, or adventure. The things we dreamed of doing while still working. I’ve realized that retirement is just a label for the time after regular work life has ended but that’s all. It’s not my life. Life is everyday living and everyday things like chores, rests, reading, writing, learning, reconnecting with friends, conversations, walks, pampering my loved ones, struggles, and joys. It’s not just about vacationing, traveling in our RV, or when I’m doing something that I wouldn’t have done while working. This sheltering-in-place changes what and how we do things but we can be creative and still enjoy our days. What’s going to be the next interruption? Life can be interrupted by so many things, illness, tragedy, losses, and orders imposed on us like sheltering in place but we cannot stop living. The final interruption to life is death and if we stop living, then we cut short our lives while still alive. Covid19 has been an interruption but we can’t let it dictate our happiness, well-being, and the quality of our experiences. Here’s the link in case you want to listen to the talk.