Priorities
by Irwin L
(Lakeland, FL)
Someone recently asked me where have I been - mainly because I hadn’t posted much lately.
It is funny how one may think of one’s self as one who writes on a daily basis but sometimes we tend to forget that there is this little thing called “Life” that tends to get in the way of what we would like to do.
There are the things we need to do and then there are the things we would like to do.
Take me for instance, while I enjoy posting little tidbits about our lives and my occasional rants and raves, if you will, about some of the “goings-on” in today’s world, (and I try to do this at least once weekly but preferably twice weekly), I will be the first to admit, “Life” does, on many occasions, interfere with that process. It is either that or the fact that I haven’t as yet created a routine/habit that would allow me to sit in front of my computer long enough to compose one or two postings a week.
Due to a prior commitment regarding a ten-day cruise we took this past January/February, one of the reasons for my lack of postings was that we were out of the country and I refuse to pay the high Internet fees charged by the cruise lines.
Hence, normally I do not even take my laptop with me when we are fortunate enough to go on a cruise. Fast-forward to our return from said cruise and my wife as well as several others (there were 100 of us from our park that went on the cruise together) came down with the flu or some other respiratory condition that she is still nursing to this day (and we returned Feb 3). So, that has limited not only our current social life but my time in front of the computer.
And then on top of everything else it is time to do our taxes (yes, I still do them myself). I guess we are destined to file income taxes up until the day we die. Since I do my own taxes, working on them takes up much of my time.
At times I wonder how we manage to get it all done and by that I mean all the daily chores we have become accustomed to over the years that one commits to just to keep our homes clean and functional.
Just the thought of that last sentence caused me to sit and ponder a bit about how simple life must be for those people that have reached the age where a hotel room or a room in an Assisted Living Facility might be all they have.
On one hand, we could say that there is the fact that they no longer have a house to tend. But, unless the facility provides some type of housekeeping assistance, they still would probably have a minimum of one room and one bathroom to clean. But then, the other side of that coin is that one would have to ask themselves – how long before such a routine would become boring?
Which begs the question – “What does one do with their time if they cannot find a chore or something else of interest to keep them occupied both physically and mentally?” Fortunately, we personally are not yet at that stage of our lives and hopefully will not be for some time.
Usually I make a daily list of things I hope to accomplish in a given day with the list being prepared either the night before or on the day of.
My routine is to outline where we must go along with the various errands we hope to attend to while out and about. Also included are whatever chores I set aside for myself that I hope to accomplish (usually little “honey do” jobs that need my attention). Then there is the list of things I want to or shall I say hope to accomplish when I sit down at my computer.
I am sure that each of us - now that we are retired – face similar challenges. Challenges such as – “what to do with our time and of all the things we want to do in any given day”.
It becomes a balancing act or shall I say one that requires prioritizing those things we consider important to us at this stage in our life.
For me that means I must re-arrange my list of “to do” items so that those items most near and dear to my heart (my writing - be it articles, blog posts, and/or short story writing) are moved to the top of the list.
I am a morning person and thus those items should be my first priority with everything else taking a back seat. After all, now that we are retired, how soon does that dresser drawer need to be greased or do I really need to run to Target within the next two hours?
Seems to me I need to re-prioritize both my objectives and my goals. After all, wasn’t it I that stated sometime back that we (especially now that we are retired) are the masters of our own destiny. Only we know what we want to do.
Okay – now that I have written my excuse for not posting recently, I guess I had better sit down and create my next article/post. For those of you that take the time to read the ramblings of this senior citizen, anything you would like to see me comment on?
Wendy Oddly enough, Irwin, I do what you just wrote. FIrst thing in the morning, before I allow myself on Facebook, I check my sites, post new stories and do emails. That way I know I'm current -- before i start to play!
p.s. I hope you realize I was only concerned about you. I don't mean you MUST post, don't want to stress you, but when I miss someone out here - my new friends - I like to drop an email just to see if all is well... and it was! Yeah!
