I first received these beautiful flowers from my daughter.......later I received them from a few friends. Many thanks to the originator of this beautiful gift and thanks to family and friends for sending them my way.
As I start this new page I am thinking it is time to move along to the second item on my list.
There is much more to be said about faith, of course, and perhaps on another day and on another page I will pick up from where I left off.
For now I want to begin to talk about WORK.
WORK has always played a most important role in my life. I have worked as a secretary, a teacher, a legal transcriptionist and a psychotherapist. These avenues have all been rewarding financially. This may seem like a lot of positions to have held but considering the fact that I started working at the age of 15 and that I have recently retired at the age of 65 then somehow over the 50 years this number seems more reasonable. I have rarely held just one position at a time.........As a secretary throughout the day I would work as a teacher in the evenings. Or as a teacher in the evenings I would carry on my psychotherapy practice throughout the daytime hours or as a legal transcriptionist in the daytime hours I would be seeing my psychotherapy clients in the evenings and on Saturdays.
Multi-tasking is probably the term that would be used today to best describe my working life.
And of course there have been many offshoots of the above careers. Twice I have had my own business in the retail field; once way back in the eighties and again more recently in the late nineties. Always though one or more of the above have been carried on simultaneously.
Work has been extremely important throughout my life.
Now that I am recently retired you will understand why I think of other work to which I will be able to devote more time.
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Working on these web sites, for example, is something I have been doing for a number of years but it is my plan to devote more time to the sites now. This is work I enjoy and I find the feedback from people around our small world very interesting and rewarding.
I also intend to continue my work as a psychotherapist. Of course this work will be done on a part-time basis but will be a most important part of my working life.
Writing will come forward from the back burner it has been patiently sitting on for a number of years. I have recently written a play, one that I hope will find a home in the hearts of others. I have begun some re-writing of a work-related self-help book that I hope to have published within a year or so. I have many writing projects just waiting for me to turn my hand to them.
Volunteer work also steps up and plays a larger role now that I am retired. Pastoral visits and helping out at the Food Bank will be among the volunteer work plans I have for myself.
And the ongoing reno work on my home is always a challenge. This weekend the paint was purchased and once the weather has cooled to a more comfortable level Brian and I will be getting to work refreshing and brightening my home office. This is no small chore considering the many books that need to be removed in order to paint all the bookshelves. We live in an old house. There is never a lack of work needing to be done.
WORK comes in many varieties, shapes, colours and sizes...........without work in my life I would feel that I was letting myself down in some way, not fulfilling those things that bring me a sense of achievement and satisfaction.
Work has sustained me throughout my life, not just financially but also emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Now that I have begun this new career called "Retirement" there is much to be done. The job of "Retirement" will take its place within the myriad of other chores. It is true now that I am retired I will spend more time relaxing on the backyard deck or sitting on the front veranda. Thanks to technology though I may not be sitting doing absolutely nothing, there just may be a lap top within reach. Or hose in hand, I may be staying busy watering the flowers and bushes in the garden.
I believe it is very important to make and take the time to simply be......to meditate, ponder and review every once in a while how I'm feeling, what direction I wish to take, when to begin and when to complete. I don't want to become just a human-doing.
But to me WORK is a gift, an opportunity to explore, discover; an open door leading to the path along which I travel in this journey called my life. I remind myself it is important to remember that there is a time for all things.
I received a wonderful e-mail from my friend, Sandi, this morning. It was called "Heartwings Love Notes 272, The Blessings of Serendipity by Tasha Halpert. Perhaps you would like to visit Tasha's website.
I would like to quote a line of Tasha's that summarizes my attitude toward work in my new retirement career, "I am learning not to protest or be concerned if I can't do what I want to do when I want to do it. Usually things turn out better than they would if I were to have my own way. When I am willing to dance to the music that is playing instead of insisting on playing my own tune my life becomes filled with joyful surprises."
The most wonderful thing about working in retirement is that there is no clock to punch, no strict hours to keep. There is a freedom that I feel blessed to be experiencing. I will keep on Dancing in the Light.
