My Retirement Years

The Magic of Ordinary Days

It is the end of 2023.  Every year of this time, I like to reread an essay I wrote when I returned from the Peace Corps.  The experience of Peace Corps changed my life, my attitude towards life.  Here is what I wrote:

The time I spent in Azerbaijan, without a doubt has a greater impact on me than on the people whom I was trying to help. How much I have changed since I set foot in this “underdeveloped” country. I know I can tolerate a much higher degree of discomfort.  No regular running water, unreliable supply of gas and electricity, even a cold shower in the winter, it is not the end of the world. Having lived with people with so little material provisions, now I can go home and be happy to live simply. I don’t need a high paying job; I can survive with less income. I don’t have to live in a luxury two-bed room condo. I can be just happy to live in a cozy studio. I don’t have to drink Starbuck coffee, eat imported cheese, and indulge myself with expensive wine. I don’t need fancy jewels or designer clothing to look good. I don’t have to compete with colleagues and friends. I don’t have to rush going from point A to point B.

I will return to New York with a much lighter spirit. Three most valuable lessons I learned from my Peace Corps experience: be patient, be flexible, and always have a sense of humor. I have grown to love life with a different attitude, I become more sensible and understanding, learn to listen more, have less self-pity, care more about my community, friends and family, recognize there are many people in the world with real problems, be more supportive with their needs rather than constantly complain about my own problems. Life in Azerbaijan has made a profound difference in me. As my Peace Crops journey comes to an end, and soon there will be more new faces (the AZ9) coming to Azerbaijan in October. I wish them well and my advice to them is a quote from Paul Theroux:

“…don’t make a mistake in thinking that you will make an important difference in the lives of the people you are among. The profound difference will be in you”.

Now I have retired, my days are nothing but ordinary, but they have magic.  Be content, be kind to others, give more and expect nothing to return, stop complaining and start living. 

 My Retirement Years

Come out from Retirement

Since I retired three months ago, I have received calls, text messages and emails asking me questions about my old job, or worse, returning to work part time or as a full-time consultant.  My first reaction was: feeling flatter.   Many of my co-workers, manager, and even upper management still respect my accounting skill, trust my judgement, and appreciate the quality of my work.  However, after that feeling subsided, my intuition urged me to say “no”. 

Life goes through stages, and we ought to give ourselves the opportunity to experience different phase of our life.    When it is time to retire, I did not hesitate to take that big step.  Returning to work, either part time or full time, is denying myself to experience that stage of my life.  Afterall, I love being retired.  Having time to do what I enjoy (drawings, hiking, camping, and backpacking) or having time to do nothing at all is wonderful. 

The ten years with the Smithsonian, I had made many recognizable contributions to the organization.  Many difficult projects, new assignments and impossible jobs were given to me, not because I was willing to do it, but because I was trusted by my manager to complete those assignments timely and professionally.  Once the assignment was given to me, I put 120% of my effort into finishing it.  As a result, I have gained and cumulated notably accounting and financial knowledge of the Smithsonian, far more than most accountants, managers, and directors both inside and outside of the department.

After years being relied upon, some people feel uncomfortable without me being around, including upper management.    However, no one is irreplaceable.  If I can do it, so can others.   The only requirement is a good work ethic, put extra effort to solve problems, instead of getting answers from me, research and find answers yourselves!

 My Retirement Years

Retirement

Two weeks into my retirement, and that is how I feel….

Retirement allows me to ponder the past, to remember family members who once occupied my life but quietly and unconsciously slipped away. Retirement is also time to relive moments that once pained or elated my heart. Retirement lets me rekindle some of my impossible dreams, Retirement is the time to toss a long life of collecting, what once was necessary no long needs to consume my time.  

Hour by hour I sit and muse
in what way my brain to use.
Shall I write or shall I read
for such effort is there need

I think on this and think on that,
some thoughts come easily as pat,
others cause my brain to shun
from anything that isn’t fun.

Retirement. A perpetual rest?
I’ve never known a harder test!
I’ve never been inclined to shirk,
but doing nothing’s such hard work.

I’m sure it’s true, some OAPs  (“Old age pensioner”)
know how it’s best to enjoy ease.
I wish that I was one of those
able to sit, relax and doze.

By Kate Beamish

 As a retiree, I find I am busier than ever! 

Retirement is time to reflect, to live again, to be productive and creative. Retirement is all about “you”.  Enjoy it!

 

 My Retirement Years

Feb 28, 2022

Years ago, when I was longing for retirement, I wrote about this distant dream:

My earnest ambition is to finish my “autobiography” (Book one - Life with Peace Corps). Once I accomplish, I shall retire to a small cabin in the woods, or a quiet canyon in the Utah desert.  That little cabin will have minimum necessitates, but it must face East to capture all the morning sun.  It must be surrounded by a nature garden with aspen, cottonwood, redbuds, boxelder, wild rose and cactus. I do not need running water so long as I have a spring, a small creek or a well from which I can draw water for daily use.  I do not need air conditioning.  Summer, the mountain breeze will keep me cool.  The leaves from the aspen tree, furs or willows will shelter me from hot sun.  Winter, I burn woods to keep warm.  Its orange hue allows me to read and write.   

 On a clear spring day, I carry my backpack, walk through valleys, pick wildflowers, or climb up to a mountain top, lie down on the green mountain slope and bath under the warm sun.  On a hot summer day, I go down to a canyon floor, find a nice cottonwood tree and relax beneath its canopy, gaze out to the blue sky, watch drifting clouds, and fall asleep to the sound of a murmuring spring. 

Now I re-read it and am happy that the “autobiography” is in place, and my retirement time finally arrives.  The description of my chosen retirement place may change slightly, but the general ideal is still the same.  I WANT A PEACEFUL RETREATING LIFE. 

Life goes through stages, and I am happy moving on to the next stage of my life and starting a new chapter with my retirement.  Like Book One, Book Two depicts this special period of my living, another humble journey.

Here is my retirement begins.