The Art of Setting Myself Free

It’s been almost 4 months since I retired (except for my last 2 trainings). At first, I slept a lot, laid around, not sure how to act with so little to “do.” I was becoming “not who I was used to being.” No replacement in sight.

Stage 2: Then I didn’t want to do ANYthing. I got great at procrastinating – just looked at my To Do list and yawned. Not exactly bored. More like …. waiting. For what? I don’t know. Just waiting.

Stage 3: OK. Nothing incoming. So what do I WANT to do now? What? WANT? I know more about what I Don’t Want. I don’t want my To Do list back. I don’t want a schedule – ANY schedule. I don’t want to be at the beck and call of ANYthing. I don’t want to do what I don’t want to do – which is pretty much everything. (Er, ah. I think I’ve been in this stage before … it feels familiar and very young.)

Stage 4: So what DO I want? I want freedom – freedom to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, and with whom. OK. (This also feels familiar, and very young.) Digging a little deeper, what bubbles up is – I want to exercise. I want to engage – with mySELF, to detach from everything, just be present to mySELF in the midst of the AS IS-Ness of Life. AND I want to hang out with people – especially those that are in my tribe. I want to contribute my skill set – I like doing that, very much.

So after almost 4 months, I’m feeling lighter, freer, more content, more alive, and working my edge here, embodying the feeling of gratitude.

This retirement gig – it works!