I celebrated the first anniversary of my retirement this week. I was laid off, and lucky enough to be able to choose not to find another job.

I have spent much of this first year traveling or having friends visit. Letting go of the burden of manipulating paid days off to calculate the best times and ways to travel has come easily! I no longer miss the bi-weekly balance sheet of travel against available days that came with each paycheck. By the time I left my company, I was earning 6 weeks of vacation time each year, along with 7 personal days, and a fair amount of national holidays. I also usually carried over at least 2 weeks each year. At one point, my brother remarked that I should be counting the weeks I had to work instead of the weeks I could be out and about!

Thus, the company was already grooming me for not working.

The biggest transition has been letting go of productivity as a goal.

Why do I need to justify my time through results or activities?

People who work are concerned about what retired people do with their time. And in my first year of not working, I have been concerned with that as well.

What do I need to show as a result of my free time? Beading projects completed? Books read? Cleanliness of my home? (Haha!) Better golf score? Exercise time?

No, no, no, no, and no.

Tinkering around the house, doing different crafts, playing golf, reading books, spending time with friends. All great activities and not a whole lot to show for it. But who cares.