Given there is a definite view of retirement, mainly from retired people themselves, that, as they get older, their life choices become restricted ( I feel the world is closing in on me as one acquaintance put it), that deliberately limiting one’s own choices is perverse, to say the least and maybe outright foolish.
I suppose that, much of this restriction, is as a result of being physically unable to engage in the activity in question. We’ve always enjoyed walking round towns and cities – trips to London, Paris, Berlin, for example. In my current state of disrepair even walking round Leeds feels like a challenge too far. Taking the pups for two half hour walks (when it used to be two one hour walks), calls for gritted teeth and deep breaths – not easy at the same time, try it.
In a similar vein, working in our vineyard is taxing, to the point that we asked our daughter and her husband to do the pruning for us. I wrote in my last blog about allocating tasks to certain people.. So that’s part of the required task of growing grapes. We’ve got a replacement grass cutter / strimmer (Gersch is his name). Our old maintenance man has come out of retirement for jobs such as post and wire replacement. We just need to be clear, in our own minds at least, what that leaves for us. Less than before I took ill that’s for sure.
In other areas of my life, music for instance I’ve stopped aiming for public performances and restricted myself to private rehearsals. Or playing along to Youtube tunes to put it another way. Much simpler but no less rewarding if I can maintain the right mindset. i.e. it’s not cowardice and it’s still fun.
So you can see this mindset also involves, something that might broadly be called, simplification. And another way in which retired people simplify is by de-cluttering. But this is where the going gets tough. The best I’ve managed so far has been to give away my van (surprisingly difficult despite the fact I didn’t use / need it). I gave it to my neighbour to sell and he will give the money he gets to a favourite charity of his. So that was nice of me.
But beyond that I’m struggling to give away or even sell items we have collected over the years. For example I have an attic full of musical instruments – three keyboards, one drum set and twenty guitars. The guitars were purchased over the years for probably £10,000 in total (see part of above). Of course I don’t know what I might get for them now. They may have increased in value or dipped to depressingly little money on the open market. But more to the point while selling them would leave a cleared attic, what would we do with the money? I know it sounds smug but it’s hardly as if we need the money unless it’s to donate it to that charity that knows no end – my son in Australia.
Anyway that’s not the point, the theme of this blog was meant to be the advantages and otherwise of simplifying my retirement life. And more specifically simplifying it when that’s what is happening to it without any effort on my part. Anyway I’ve made a start on taking it easy in my retirement now just watch this roughly fortnightly blog to see how my cunning plan unfolds or maybe it will be a question of it folding in a messy heap. Who knows?