So it’s been just over 6 months since I retired. I thought I’d write up a 6 month check in and report in on how things are going. First of all - and point for my first point - I 100% recognized how lucky and blessed I am to be able to retire “early”. And that is the first thing I have noticed - I have Retirement Guilt - I get this occasionally interacting with people. Sometimes it’s something they directly say : “Why is it you are retired and am I still working?” (My Mom) and others are due to me comparing my situation with theirs and feeling guilty that they are working and I am not. This is part of life always - “Never compare yourself to others - or you will become vain or bitter” - and the song Funny the Way It Is - exemplifies the irony of life :
Funny the way it is, if you think about it
One kid walks ten miles to school, another’s dropping out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
On a soldier’s last breath his baby’s being born
To be clear it’s most often from myself - but there is often a subtle undercurrent of surprise when people ask what I am doing. And to further clarify I don’t have regret about retiring; work never defined me : I worked hard and had my opportunity to make impacts from individual to systemic - but I always had a full life outside of work. And I was lucky to both love my job and to have a job that I didn’t hate 100% of the time, or even a majority of the time.
So to one of the most often asked questions : Am I bored? - No - not at all - I always have plenty to do. I have always had a bunch of hobbies (outdoors : trail running, biking, hiking, backpacking, mountaineering and photography and videography) and add to that a long list of things to take care of and do and I easily fill up my day. My normal activities can now take priority for scheduling, for example : rather than get up at 5:30 am to go on a run before a work meeting - I can now get up at 6:30 am and take a bit more time getting out the door and go on my run.
What else have I been doing with my time? One of the main themes here is that I have expanded some of my hobbies. Including doing too much activity and injuring myself. For example I have really gotten into shooting 35mm film - I have bought a number of old used cameras, and shot a lot of film. For example, I took a personal project to photograph Western States in June all on film : click and manually crank the wind of the shot and then shoot again - I did that for 14 rolls, you can see the results here. And then after paying the bill for development and seeing how long it takes to get film back - I decided I’d try developing film myself - you can see my first scans here. It is quite a process - but I’ll cover that in a separate post. Another hobby whose nature is large by its very nature : I also did another 50K in April - traversing Zion National Park with Seth before he turned 50.
The second theme is doing more things myself - things I used to pay others to do - that now that I have time I can do myself, learn new things and have a sense of satisfaction in completing them.
I started mowing my own lawn; I bought an electric leaf blower and a weed whacker. With Rod’s help, I also planted a bunch plants, spread some mulch, got the sprinklers going, and replaced the sprinkler controller with a Rachio - that gave me app/wifi control over timing and zones. I also wasn’t afraid of using local teenager help to do some of the labor, especially after injuring myself. ;)
I also bought a bike stand, and some tools and am attempting to teach myself how to repair/tweak my bike vs. having a shop do everything. Refreshed the toobeless goop in my tires, adjusted the derailer and minor things like that.
I also built a sauna, which involved me doing extensive research on how to build a true wet Finnish sauna with all the important details like insulation, venting, bench size and height etc etc. I built it with my general contractor buddy Steve, where he did all the real specialized work : measuring, cutting, nailing etc. And I paid for everything and was the hired laborer : “Carry those boards down to the back porch.” - “Stain all those cedar boards on the exterior and interior” - or provided specialized sauna research : “What gauge of wire do you buy and install for 200 degree heat?” ( 8 AWG Electrical Silicone Copper Core High Temperature Resistant Wire) and what kind of exhaust fan do you buy? We started May 4th and finished July 16th - another topic that I need to do a more extensive write up about. Thankfully I have really enjoyed using the sauna 3-4 times a week since finishing it.
We have traveled a bit - mostly locally - road trip to Arizona to see the grandkids, and then through Joshua Tree, Black Canyon, Grand Canyon, Zions and Logan. A trip to San Francisco for a good friend and co-workers memorial. Another trip to Arizona. And then a trip as noted to Western States.
I have also been able to attend more closely to helping Stac with her medical appointments. It’s a slow process working your way through the medical system from GP to specialist to specialist, but we are making progress bit by bit.