Retirement, a time for recalibrating

I believe one of the secrets to retirement is self-discipline. We suddenly return to a life more in common with children than other adults especially if we are no longer required to work to live. Suddenly our time is our own. 

After my dad retired, he and my mom built an addition to their cabin. The project took them over a year of constant labour using blueprints designed by my brother who’d just completed a degree in architecture. That design required that the roof be supported by single, one and a half story beam. Can you imagine? 

First, they had to find suitable tree in the forest. Then, they would have had to cut it down, delimbed it, peeled the bark off and varnished it. But, the hard part would have been erecting this huge log, held it in place, and then secured it in place. 

He and my mom couldn’t have done that on their own but who else could have helped? Maybe my sister, brother, and his wife. I’m embarrassed not to know. There was no timeline or expectation of performance except what they placed on themselves. That said, there may as well have been. My parents worked on the addition non-stop except for occasional trips to their house in the city and hikes in the mountains. I can’t imagine doing the same. 

The new part of the cabin

The original part of the cabin

When I was a child, my dad was constantly building furniture or bookshelves or fixing stuff around the house. He excelled at carpentry. It was an escape from his work and maybe the family, me included. So, I never acquired any carpentry skills nor have a felt any predilection to pursue them.  

My mom read and wrote poetry. I don’t know whether she had certain goals for the day. Her poems are very personal created more from inspiration than self-discipline, an outlet for her frustrations with life in general and the family. 

My life in retirement is easy as I think it is for many others with whom I’m acquainted. We may have more or less money that allow us various forms of diversions but in the big picture, we all live in a comfortable home, eat when and what they want, and visit children and grandchildren when possible. 

Some of us may have to care for elderly parents but rarely do those parents live in the same abode. Put simply, we don’t have to worry about putting food on the table or a warm place to sleep. So, in our retirement, do we simply indulge ourselves?

Before COVID, Nicola and I travelled to the Southern U.S. at the end of October and November with our two dogs and a tiny trailer. We’d stay in both commercial and state campsites and occasionally, off-grid. Many of those occupying spaces in the private campsites were part of the approximately one million Americans permanently living out of an RV of one kind of another. That was pretty much a pattern until we arrived in the small city of El Centro located California close to the border of Mexico. 

Initially, we didn’t realize it was filled with Canadians.  Our first clue should have the overly friendly greeting from one of the guests. We were in the process of setting up a tiny trailer that looked comical situated between two enormous motorhomes. We couldn’t help but notice that she’d made a special little trip over to comment on our dogs and ask where we were from. Being suspicious of overly friendly stranger, we didn’t respond in kind. Otherwise, we might have found out that she was from Elbow, Saskatchewan or Viking, Alberta or Dawson Creek, B.C. 

 

The sites were all immaculately cared for and occupied by RVs similar to the enormous ones surrounding ours. There was also a row of identically converted mobile homes. The lots all surrounded a small, nine-hole golf course. Nicola also noticed a community kitchen and hall with a sign attached to the door announcing the upcoming American Thanksgiving dinner. Related craft projects could be seen in various stages of completion on several tables. Next door was a swimming pool that Nicola and I would sneak into afterhours that night. 

As we circumnavigated the trailer site with our dogs in tow, I noticed few golfers out on the course. We would learn later that’s a morning activity. That’s their disciplined activity for the day. Four o’clock in the afternoon was reserved for drinking. Groups of people gathered in front of various trailers laughing in that carefree manner people do at this time of day.

 

It looked like a good life, and why not? They might have used a little CO2 to drive down to El Centro every winter but once they’re there, they’re there. No need to be constantly travelling around like my wife and I in our teeny tiny trailer. 

 

Retirement’s a weird life. I’m not sure I’d recommend it if your work is still fulfilling and you can balance it with all your other obligations like family. Nevertheless, it does provide an individual the freedom to pursue goals outside of those defined by work and there’s the nub. The goals of work are not yours but do you have any. For retirement, it’s important to have some even if it is to play a few holes of golf every day. 

Campground in El Centro