My Retirement Is Not Looking Too Productive

Blogging, family, Fitness, happiness, health related issues, humor, lessons learned, retirement 1 Minute

These past 10 days have given me a glimpse of what my retirement might be like.

Since I finished teaching my class the first week of March, I really have no teaching responsibilities right now, so my days are fairly wide open.

And let’s just say I have not made the best use of those wide-open days.

Despite having the whole day free, I’m not getting to my blog until after 10:00 most nights. When I look back on what I’ve done all day, it hasn’t been much.

Well, there was an hour of Curb Your Enthusiasm, an hour of news, an episode of Schitt’s Creek, and then a Netflix movie after dinner (which we had delivered).

We also wanted to take our dog for a walk at one of the local colleges, but the two we drove past were closed down. So after half an hour of driving around, we ended up back at Villanova to walk our dog, five minutes from our house.

Add in some mindless scrolling through Facebook and YouTube, and before you know it, it’s 10:00 at night.

No exercise, no yard work, no projects around the house, no reading.

I guess it proves that saying – if you want something done, ask a busy person. Nobody should even think about asking me to do something, I can’t even do my own stuff.

I need to think about how to get into a routine when I really have nothing that needs to be done.

Otherwise, when I retire, I might earn the title of the laziest man alive…

*image from Forbes

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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62 thoughts on “My Retirement Is Not Looking Too Productive”

  2. I have been very productive for over three years since retirement, but the last week I’ve been struggling. I think it’s the combination of the social distancing (I like socializing) combined with not being able to do many of the things I like to do (Go to the gym, watch sports, meet with my writing group). I probably should stop watching the daily press briefings because I feel like the President is in some kind of alternative reality from the scientists. I wouldn’t say I’m anxious, but the government is not inspiring confidence right now.

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  3. Hahahahaha! I love it! See, it’s past midnight and here I am on your doorstep. Well, I HAVE been working for hours on remote teaching but I still understand what you’re saying. I used to get so much more accomplished and worked 60-80 hours a week! I always think of my ability to work as water flowing into every space. Looking at your photo, I’d guess you (if that’s you!) are flowing nicely into the corners of the couch….

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  6. Just like it takes awhile to adjust to changing the times an hour forward or back with the seasons, idle time takes a little while to get used to. I would suggest buying a motorcycle so you can fill your days with sun-filled travel. Seriously though, if the social circumstances were different, I think you would be having no problem filling your days. Or maybe it is time to buy a new couch and break it in good! Stay safe, even if you are bored!

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    1. Motorcycles terrify me… And on a side note, I had a friend who is a well-respected philosophy teacher, and he told me several years ago that his favorite book of all time was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Since then, I have tried to read it three or four times, and for whatever reason, I never finish it. Maybe I should give it a shot with all this time I’ve got. How are you staying busy?

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      1. Well, not riding yet. Motorcycle is still in quarantine 😁 Reading and writing are all to keep me busy lately. But I am thankful for that and many other things.

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  7. Someone once told me that being retired is like having a week comprising six Saturdays and a Sunday. They were right, and it’s good to see you getting into practice 😂

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  8. LOL! This makes me feel good.
    I am still working but just part time. My friend sent me a quote yesterday that that sums things up. “I have always complained that I am lacking the time to clean my house thoroughly, these past weeks showed me thats not the reason!”
    Don’t worry, I doubt you will become the laziest man, too much competition! 😃

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  11. I have it in the same way. Actually just made a post about it. The first week was fine, but now I´m just wandering around, don´t know what to do even though there are plenty of things you could do. You know?

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  12. I´m not sure if my last comment came through, but I just wanted to say that i have it the excactly same way. Actually, I just made a post about it. I´m just wandering around not knowing what to do when I don´t do schoolwork. I really don´t like it.

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    1. I’m guessing it must take a while to get used to a new normal before we can get in a routine. By the way, I just clicked on your name to read your post, but I got an error message.

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      2. Well, it was because I have changed the webadress, but I forgot to link it with my name. It should work now, thank you for telling

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  13. Lol!! Having quit my nursing career last Oct I found I am not good without a structured routine. I swear I got more done at home when I was working 40+hour weeks! I am slowly settling into a routine but I find mornings hard! It is so easy to check my media, drink my coffee and get ready for my day yet sometimes I still find myself getting lost in all this and suddenly it’s time for lunch!!

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  14. At least you are 1) parenting a special kid and 2) are writing a blog. (But I agree, working from home does not feel nearly as productive as in an office) But we are all reeling right now and the internet is both helping and NOT helping!

    It’s going to take more self-discipline than I’ve given it these past 2 weeks to survive the next 6 months with no school but home school for my son. I still cannot wrap my mind around it.

    My dreams of cleaning out the basement and finishing my book project or watching a great video like this? Guess which one I do and which one I don’t? (and I didn’t cry until the dancing at the end during the credits. so joyful and sad and poignant. they belong on the Broadway stage, but here they are, on my iphone and it is beautiful. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/03/23/virtual-orchestra-berklee-what-the-world-needs-now-is-love

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    1. I wish you the best with the home schooling. If there is any way you think I can help, please don’t hesitate to ask. And thank you for another wonderful video. Much better than a clean basement.

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      1. Yesterday I decided that maybe if I use Instagram to document my son’s homeschooling that might help motivate ME to do more for him. (I have an Insta account to see friends’ but have never posted any photos there, until yesterday) All the rules about “too much” technology are out the window.

        My memoir writing group just met by zoom… I really don’t like the medium with everyone talking over one another, feedback, “am I on? ” “can you hear me?” “we can hear you but you’re too far from the mic” etc etc but it was nice to hear from everyone.

        And thank God we can go out for walks. A friend reminded me that during the Sniper crisis in DC area we couldn’t go outside or buy gas for fear of being shot. This is a different kind of terror and literally shared around the globe but not manmade like war. But unprecedented for our generation. Polio was probably the closest thing but I was too young to remember it.

        But that zoom meeting just concluded. Too long at 90 minutes and the whole time I neglected my son who is watching Mary Poppins instead of me engaging him… Here’s my instagram handle. https://www.instagram.com/susan_goewey/

        So giving myself some accountability by sharing “publicly”.

        But my iphone memory is FULL again so everytime I want to take/ upload a photo of his work I see dreaded “manage storage” and I can’t til I take time to “declutter” my phone! (nevermind my basement)
        so again: tech is here to both save the day and frustrate the day as every new app I download, every photo/video I take fills it up to disfunction … and it is not like I can afford to (germ or money-wise to go shopping for a iphone w/ greater memory /storage capacity in midst of pandemic!

        And sentimentality makes me want to hoard all my photos of happier days when we were free to socialize. 😦

        Ok. sorry, random place to put this long comment but it was what was in front of me (due to email notification prompt) and that seems to be how I’m rolling these days… just doing what’s infront of me.

        Yesterday son and I practiced his hotel worksite housekeeping skills by putting on rubber gloves and scrubbing the bathrooms 🙂

        It’s going to be a long 6 months and praying this IS “over” in 6 months but expert opinions seem to think it will be much longer 😦

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      2. I started following you on IG. I do not use it that often, but I will try to check in with your posts. I hope you have fun with it.

        I kept running out of space as well until I finally broke down and pay for extra storage in iCloud. It’s 99 cents per month for an extra 50 gig.

        I wish you and your son through this pandemic; I hope the worst of it is over in less than six months

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  15. Know the feeling Jim… I try and do a 20k run, rescue some injured puppies, maybe clean the flat top to bottom, before I sit down for breakfast. Then, when I wake up, I stumble around for a few hours

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  19. I was laughing at the retirement pieces and thinking that me retiring and moving at the same time does not give me a chance to sit still. I am glad I did it though, because it allowed me to downsize all this stuff I have.

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      3. By the way, I tried to comment on one of your posts, but it says I have to be logged in. I am not sure what I have to be logged into?

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      4. If I understand correctly, the default in WordPress Settings Discussion is to require a commenter to be logged into their WordPress account. This feature is supposed to prevent the comments section from getting spammed with anonymous comments. I’ve removed that restriction for now. Please test it for me. I’ve left the restriction that the comments are moderated on along with the restriction that requires a name and email. The name and email, I assume are automatically provided when logged into WordPress at the time you comment. I don’t have a lot of traffic so now is the time for me to play with my settings. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

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      5. thanks, Geri. I was able to leave a comment this time; hopefully it went through! I am not sure if it did, since I received no sort of confirmation that it did…

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      6. The comment was awaiting my approval. I’m not sure why the WordPress system doesn’t give any confirmation. I’ll have to research that another day. Take care and enjoy retirement.

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