Brought about by my coworker quitting and moving out of state, I spent the weekend at home just thinking about my own career & future retirement. It was too hot to do anything else but sit by the personal fan because I can't turn on the ceiling fan (Mom doesn't like it.) He moved to pursue his religious passion and to reduce expenses in preparation for his retirement as his health declines. Good personal decisions for him, we're all feeling sorry for his wife who isn't excited about the move.
Like him, I love my job and I would do it as long as I can sit at a computer and wiggle my mouse. But it brought up thoughts about my passions for all my hobbies and interests. For one thing, other than age, the only other thing that would knock me out of the work force is the need to go on kidney dialysis. It'll depend on how that medical procedure would suck time or energy from me to continue going to the company to work.
So, if time were freed up today without concern for housing or medical expenses, what would I do with my time? How wold I spend my day? For one thing, travel is off the list. As much as I enjoy it, travel would be a major hassle to work dialysis into a trip. That would certainly mark the end of my travelling, unless I get a donor kidney. As it is, I stopped volunteering to travel with Mom about 5 years ago when it got to be too much for her. The travel bug is still in her heart but her body can't handle it anymore. She turns into a mindless zombie when she reaches her limit. Her severe FOMO (fear of missing out) prevents her from admitting when she reaches her limit.
For one thing, I started my "retirement planning" when I was in my 20's. That's when I started learning tai chi. I've practically forgotten it all now, but I miss martial arts. Mom takes up this time I would use for martial arts. But I have everything lined up here to get back in the swing of things when I get the time. I'll likely never get into any of the other arts that I've done. I didn't invest alot of mental effort into it (time yes, effort no) so I basically let the moves sink into muscle memory by rote. It was never in my heart to stay with those as I aged. My back and knees made that abundantly clear even back then.
The other "retirement planning" I did was to take art classes. I could easily slip back into being a sketchaholic. Right now it's also on the back burner. I still sketch things occasionally, only to test my skills. I like what I produce, but the creativity (the next idea) is where I falter.
I've still got my piano, which has been on the back burner longer than everything else. I'd have to get it tuned, but it's waiting for me to pick up where I left off if I can just get rid of everything on top of and in front of the piano to access it. I won't take lessons. I was good at sight reading music at one time. I can get there again with a little regular practice. This is a skill I enjoy having but I never understood why I need to be able to play. It's always had the lowest priority yet it waits for me.
Fitness, would become priority. I would finally have time to go to the gym with or without Mom. I was really good about this when I was laid off. Normally I find this so boring I want to cry, but when I have nothing else to do, it's great for burning off nervous energy. Of course, this would depend on the energy I have after dialysis. I would want put priority on tai chi over gym if it came to how I should spend a finite amount of energy.
Then there's the last thing. I'd actually take my videos to the next level and put them up on YouTube. I would monetize and become a YouTuber. I'd probably start with unicycle tours and Tai Chi videos. I've always had a seed in the back of my head that I wanted to teach Tai Chi for free. Never had the time, let alone the space.
