I wrote in my recently posted 900 blogs blog that I sometimes got inspiration, if that isn’t too grand a descriptor, from the media. And sometimes that source throws up some surprising topics. For example in the case of this retirement blog, inspiration comes from the Lloyd’s bank advert on TV. It’s one of the few adverts that doesn’t piss me off and I even pay a little attention to it. Not so much the words but the horse it features.
I am at heart more of a doggy person than a horsey one but I have to admit they are beautiful creatures. But dogs are my main ‘weakness’ My Facebook profile must be pathetically simple – likes anything that’s nice, to do with animals, primarily dogs. That’s the way to sell to this guy or around which to focus requests for charitable donations (we support two dog charities – Dog’s Trust and Guide Dogs).
So not a dog but a horse in this case but enough to draw my attention. The advert came up in the middle of a cricket match. They put one on between some overs so they’re brief enough not to bother reaching for the remote and the mute button. Which is why I heard these words which caught my attention. Specifically the words ‘we’re by the side of a nation that never stands still’.
I’m deeply uneasy about all the nationalistic stuff that pervades our media especially at this time of success, so far, in the European Football Championships, shortened to ‘the Euros’. We’re in the finals but so what we haven’t actually won anything yet. By the time you read this we will have either won or come second. The latter will be a huge disappointment but better than nowt, as they say in Yorkshire.
Anyway back to the words. When I registered what they said my first thought was if I wanted a definition of us as a nation that I was comfortable with then the idea of a nation that never stands still, is both intriguing and comfortable.
Second, I wondered how appropriate this concept would be if applied to the state of retirement. I realise that for many retired people it would be a complete anathema. Retirement for them being about relaxing, taking it easy, doing as little as possible and being content to have it that way.
But if you’ve read my recent retirement blogs about my semi obsession with ‘not going gently into that dark night, rage, rage against the dying of the light’ and all that malarkey, then you’ll know that’s not for me. Nope, maybe I wish it could be, but it can’t.
So accepting the notion that never standing still is not for all retirees then why is it for me and what does it mean in practice? Well I’m so committed to the notion of keeping moving – intellectually and physically that I like the saying (don’t know who said it), if I fall on my face at least it means I’m still moving forward.
Also at a more prosaic level, I really like the idea of having new ideas (my creativity value you might remember). To me it means, in a nutshell, I’m still alive and, if not kicking, at least moving my body parts. If I can keep those body parts moving (in my thinking, a step up from twitching) that’s got to be good, right? Although not the essential tremors.
Also quite prosaically just having new experiences in retirement (like going to hear my folk fiddle band perform at the local farmer’s market which is what we did last Saturday morning), brings pleasure, which is no bad thing. Not always of course, sometimes new experiences are a total pain and we are left with the feeling, bugger that for a game of soldiers, to quote the vernacular), I’m not doing that again. But we still get some pleasure along the lines of well, at least I gave it a go or other versions – I’m a trier, game to give it a go, still bopping. You know the kind of thing.
So is there a downside to this perpetual motion? Most definitely. A retired person has to know when to raise and when to fold or whatever that card-based saying is. Get that wrong and you’re going to be a very-stressed retiree. Back in my psychology days I used to talk to people about the stress graph although I didn’t call it that. On my stress graph there would be a burn out zone and there would be a rust out zone. Between these two extremes is the perfect, well-balanced zone of living.
Sometimes this balance can be achieved over a period of time. An over-full week followed by an under-occupied week. Same with a day or even an hour. And here I’m referring to another of my key values – balance.
Recently with trying to fund the cabin by making a bank transfer to the USA and pay the contractor who has to pay his men and who hasn’t been able to get any money from our bank in America we’ve had a great deal of stress. Hopefully it will get easier. Just teething trouble, hopefully. But there’s no doubt that this is the price we pay for keeping moving, you know like the nation ‘that never stands still’.
You know I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, when I start these retirement blogs I have very little idea of whether it’s 1,000 words worth (the poet) or if it is, how it’s going to turn out. Never more true that with this particular blog. It’s less than 1,000 words and from an original premise it’s turned out rather predictably, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles as somebody one said. Apologies if you were hoping for something more profound.
PS we came second, bummer.