Filling My Days In Retirement

Over the last couple of years I’ve been adding to a list of things that I like to do, or would like to do in the future.  This isn’t a bucket list, it’s a list of the type of things that I enjoy, mixed in with a few ideas and links to web sites.  I used to keep this list in Simplenote, but then I discovered that they don’t keep a backup so I’ve decided to move the list over to this blog.  It makes a nice complement to the series of articles I’ve been writing on retirement.  Most of the things on this list are daily activities, a bit like a checklist for what a ‘day lived well’ would look like.  Unfortunately there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything on the list, but over a week there should be a good mix of most of these types of activity.  I’ve already gone some way to achieving this balance and I know that because I keep a track of what I do each day in an app called lift. Tracking is useful because it makes it impossible to lie to myself, but just scanning the list each day and updating it with what I’ve done provides a nice gentle reminder or nudge to do better tomorrow, or keep up the good work.

Onto the list:

1. Fix/improve something every day (paint, weed, oil, repair)
2. Create some thing every day (blog, art, make, poems)
3. Tend (look after) something every day (garden, collect litter, tidy, clean)
4. Help someone every day (answer questions on the web, do DIY for elderly, garden for someone, deliver lunch, volunteer at http://www.ncirossallpointfleetwood.co.uk/)
5. Keep mobile most of the day (walk, cycle, swim, housework, gardening)
6. Learn something every day (read books, watch an online course, learn by doing – craft) here are some examples, crafts, cooking, photography, programming, running, drawing
7. Appreciate beauty every day (music, art, photography)
8. Have fun every day (laugh, run, jump, play games)
9. Spend time with people every day (go out for meals breakfast, lunch, dinner, chat, TV time, cafes, talk to strangers on walks, say hello)
10. Spend some time relaxing every day (meditate, yoga nidra, listen to music)
11. Have somewhere to sit and read that’s perfect for different weather conditions
12. Save up jobs for rainy days, so I have plenty to achieve
13. Have lovely spaces to learn in & create & experiment & read – study, library, greenhouse, workshop
14. Read the classics, read other series of books, start reading new genres
15. Go on challenges (coast to coast, Pennine way …)

As befits the random lists of activities in todays post, I chose a random photo to go with the post.  It’s a picture of a ‘dog rose’ that I spotted by the footpath that runs alongside the Royal Lytham Golf Course.  We used to have hundreds of these growing through the brambles in the orchard, at the bottom of the garden, that was a major feature in my childhood memories.