Skip to main content

Is Life All Downhill After You Hit 40?

Short Answer: No.

Long Answer: Hell, No.

I'm 67. I retired last year, after realizing that the old age I'd been waiting for had arrived. In addition to finally getting off the merry-go-round of too little time, and not enough spent with people who matter to me, or activities that I truly enjoyed, I said: enough.

Was my first year what I'd expected? Not even close.

To begin with, I was humbled to realize that, planner though I was, completely unstructured time is not something I handled well. Before the year was up, I'd started taking local teaching sub jobs, 2-3 times a week. I actually made better progress with writing after I had less time in which to accomplish it.

The district I sub in has generally nice kids, the work allows me to plan and make notes on my writing, and I am still able to reject jobs and have fun instead.

Due to an unexpected illness on my husband's part, I did not get as much travel as I would have liked. However, he is better now, and I'm anticipating taking more 2-4 day trips in the future.

The same with housework - it's actually harder to clean and organize when you have a completely open schedule. Once I tightened up on that freedom, I noticed that I improved my household considerably.

But, what about creativity? Many assume that your more creative years are when you are fresh and young.

Don't believe it. Here are some stories about some women who are kicking a$$ - creating and learning, and completely enjoying the last third of their lives.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

One Reason to Write

This post sparked mine today. I've been writing (slowly, one anecdote at a time) my memories of my youth, and the stories that I remember being passed down from parents, grandparents, and other long-lived people. I was fortunate - in my mother's family, old age was the default - my grandparents were born in the 19th century, and passed on stories of their youth. My father's family was equally long-lived, but not as talkative (WV vs. Irish-descent). Still, I have an aunt by marriage whose passion is genealogy, and who had compiled a bookshelf of clippings, copies of newspaper stories, and charts of the family, back to pre-Colonial times. If you aren't on Ancestry.com (and, I don't blame you - the price has risen shockingly!), you might want to use a word processing program or app - Google Docs is easy to use, and can be shared with others easily - to write down your memories - personal, or what has been told to you. If you'd rather, set up a videocam, and...

Untangling the Mess That is Roadside Service

We're heading out next week to a Physics conference, and, as we are traveling via car, my husband asked me to check out Roadside Assistance. Specifically, did we still have it, or could we get it, on our cell phone plan? The short answer is no. It was discontinued in 2012. The long answer: Sprint - they don't have it AARP - I keep getting information about the WONDERFUL, heavily DISCOUNTED perks you can get for membership in AARP. I never really did join, but they keep sending their magazine each month, along with a card that says I'm a member. Most places accept it for discounts without actually checking to see if I AM a member. I checked their website. They do have a Roadside Assistance plan listed. I click on the link, which pops up a box warning me that YOU ARE LEAVING AARP FOR ANOTHER SITE! I click OK and end up on the site - Allstate. Yes, I think it is somehow affiliated with the insurance company. I check out the rates. Not that cheap, unless you are a...

Off the Fence

It's official. I submitted my retirement letter today. Already heard back from Benefits. I do feel relieved. Actually making a decision is less stressful than avoiding making one. I'm going to spend the rest of this week catching up on grades, making notes about what to take and what to pitch, and planning for the transition.