I am not quite sure if people set retirement goals, but considering how I will live my life for the next 30 years makes me think I might need to. Certainly not the first of my goals, but on recommendation from a doctor (to slow down my highly active and anxious mind) I enrolled in a course on Meditation and Mindfulness. I set my goals around the things that bring me the greatest pleasures: write, read, exercise, garden, travel, and socialise.
The most important goal or direction I will take is to develop and understand myself by doing inner work. This work is to ensure that my relationships with friends, family, and the community are undertaken in such a way that they are meaningful, purposeful, and loving. My intention is to slow life down, listen, and hear what people are saying.
I acknowledge the work of Robert A. Johnson. Through him, and his Jungian influence, I have learned more about people and relationships than I could have ever have learned from any other.
1. Write my life
I have always wanted to write. Although I have written a book before (a doctoral thesis) no one really read it, other than a few international examiners who agreed that it was worthy of the award. Family and a few friends politely leafed through the manuscript, all the while stating that they wouldn’t have the patience to contemplate starting one. So why did I, a farmer who was already busy enough enrol in such a high-level degree? It will all be revealed.
I want to believe that I am really smart and write like James Joyce, Colm Toibin, Yeats, Wilde, Dervla McTiernan, Sarah Rooney, and all the other Irish writers who came both before and after me. I want to believe that I read widely, extensively, and inclusively, and I will continue to do so.
2. Exercise
I began active exercise just over 10 years ago as a means of quitting smoking. It worked really well. I am now cycling approximately 40-50 km per week along the quiet country roads. It is pure bliss on a warm winter’s day with little wind.
I am also managing to walk about 15 km a week around a paddock’s perimeter, listening to audiobooks, or talking on the phone. Last October, I completed a 135 km Cape to Cape walking trek with an all-female group, Adventurous Women.
Alternatively, or when the weather isn’t quite right, I stay indoors and do a series of YouTube workouts. Some of the better ones are Team Body Project, a 30-minute low impact exercise that doesn’t involve star jumps, stutter jumps, or any jumps for that matter. I really enjoy Fitness Blender, a 37-minute cardio workout and several yoga sites as well. More recently, I have been following The Fast 800_Official workouts with coach Moira.
3. Travel the world
This is somewhat impossible right now. Who would have thought only a month ago, that state, national and international travel would be so severely limited. Our life plans were to travel extensively. It is just as well our plans have been delayed because the time taken to project manage the city house renovations has been much longer than we anticipated. Seeding is now upon us and we still have the sheep which means that we cannot go away and leave them.
4. Practice social and community engagement
The point of this goal is to live a life as socially as possible. This means saying ‘Yes’ to invitations involving entertainment and sport, seizing opportunities to meet new people, developing new friendships, and surrounding myself with the people I love, and who in return love me.
5. Read widely, listen intently and slow down
In an attempt not to state the obvious, retirement for me will be about slowing down. It is also about personal growth. Therefore, I will read widely, listen intently, and slow down the pace of life that has led me to where I am now.
Refer to this post to see where my reading has taken me.
An excellent book that sent me on my path towards slowing down the mind is Chris Neibauer’s No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology is Catching Up to Buddhism. The publisher’s summary states that ‘our sense of self is actually an illusion created by the left side of the brain and that it exists in the same way a mirage in the middle of the desert exists: as a thought rather than a thing.’
This is an extremely powerful way to begin thinking about approaching a conscious life in retirement. Setting retirement goals will ensure that you will prioritise those things that make life full, and pleasurable.
What are your retirement goals?