Time feels different depending on how old we are and what we are doing. For children, time moves slowly, especially when waiting for a special event or when bored by school. When we are adults and working to support a family there never seems enough time in the day and any holidays are soon over. But retirement demands new attitudes to time, and as previously, it can be an enemy or a friend.
If your life after retirement is too full of responsibilities and obligations, you will regret the lack of time for yourself. But if you are not involved in any creative or community activities, time drags and it is easy to fill it with routine chores such as house cleaning, washing clothes or the car, shopping, or DVDs and daytime television.
In retirement, and for possibly the first time in your life, you are in control of your time. And for most of us, there is a lot of time to manage – perhaps 20 or 30 years. When this period of life comes to an end, will you look back to see if it has been wasted? Will you ask what you did during retirement that satisfied your ambitions? How you contributed to your community, or the lives of others? In this special period of time what did you improve, learn, create, participate in and enjoy?
If the precious years seem to pass too quickly for you, and it is difficult to remember how you are using the time, try this! Why does a year have to be 12 months? Why not measure retirement in ‘blocks’ of 3 months? At the end of each block look back to see what you did, or achieved, and think what you will do to make life even more worthwhile in the next.
Retirement is your time; make it your best time.
Renaissance not Retirement 