Six Months of Retirement

Tomorrow marks six months from my last day of work.  It has gone by quickly and I can honestly tell you that there has never been a day where I have been bored.  I was reading an early retirement blog the other night where the author stated one of the reasons for retirement is the inability to physically or mentally work.  People also retire because they simply want to and have the financial means in order to do so.  I thought about where I fit in.  Maybe a bit of both.

The girls' summer break from school began two weeks after my last day of work and that time of year is so very different from when school is in session.  We travel and tend to be on the move so life is a bit unstructured and less routine.  When the girls returned to school in September, I took a mental break.  I fully admit to being lazy.  But I was meal planning and cooking and doing laundry and taking care of everyday cleaning.  It's not like I completely checked out, but I told Rich that my mind needed rest.  I needed to recharge from the past eight years of a challenging, sometimes nonexistent work/life balance.

Do the girls like having me home?  Yes!

Do the girls like when I don't cook dinner?  No!

I am so not a fan of cooking, cleaning, meal planning, etc.  You know - all the things I willingly take full responsibility for now.  At times, I feel creativity swelling inside of me and I need a release so I'll turn to photography or work on a new sewing project.  There's time for that now.  I don't know how I fit it all in before.  

I feel healthier now.  I'm eating better (but not the best.)  I'm getting more exercise.  (I haven't been able to run for a few weeks now because of an injury in my left leg.)  I didn't need to lose weight but I dropped those last 5 pounds or so leaving me at about the weight I was before I became pregnant with the girls (but not pregnant with Abbey.)  I even fit into my black dressy pants that I had to stop wearing a few years ago for fear the thighs would tear open when I sat down.  However, I have no practical reason to wear those pants as my outfits these days consist of jeans and pajamas.  My stress levels have dropped but I still lack patience.  That's a personality flaw for sure.  I did some major adulting a few weeks ago that in the past would have caused my stomach to freak out, but now I remained mostly calm.

I don't know what the future holds but I can tell you I haven't really given much thought to tax work.  I have considered other business ideas but there's no rush.  It will be interesting to see how this winter goes as I'm already craving warmer weather.  I may go stir crazy.