Being Busy by Liz Flaherty

I've been busy, which is a wonderful thing in retirement. I admit that busy now differs greatly from what it used to be, but I liked it then and I like it now. While I'm not a Merriam or a Webster, I think it comes in as the opposite of being bored on the definition page. I've never been bored for longer than an afternoon, but I can't think it's preferable to having too much to do.

So, what does busy mean when you're 13 years into retirement? (I'm not sure how that happened, by the way; the last 13 years I was working sure didn't go this fast.) And how do you manage busy when you haven't seen your natural hair color or good blood pressure numbers in longer than you care to think about?

You know I'm just dying to tell you how to do it, don't you?

Right off the bat, you choose your times of day. Can't stay awake past nine? Go to bed. Can't stay asleep past five? Get up. Same answers if you can't go to sleep till one in the morning and can't wake up till ten.

Don't expect your energy to last as long as you're awake, and even if you take a nap, you might not have a second wind afterward, at which point you need to be busy in fits and starts. If it's June and you have to dust even though you just did it in November (the holidays, you know), dust one thing at a time. It might take you a week, but you'll get it done before it starts collecting too much at your starting point.

If you're eating supper at home, plan and partially prepare it during your energy hours, because if you wait until mealtime, you won't care the least little bit what anyone eats. Or if they do. There will also be many days you'll skip meal prep (and possibly the meal) altogether because you've been thinking of what to eat and then cooking it for at least 100 years and you really don't care about those things anymore, either. Just make a sandwich (always have bread on hand), eat the last of the chips, and then have cookies for dessert.

Speaking of eating the last of the chips, be sure to keep a grocery list going at all times. On your phone is best, because you're most likely to remember it that way, but taking a picture of the list on the kitchen counter will work just as well. Don't count on taking the list with you. You won't remember it.

You won't remember anything. At least nothing you need to remember.

Oh, back to being busy...I knew I was here for a reason.

It's important to realize that as you age, much of your busyness will be comprised of medical visits. Optometric or ophthalmology appointments. (Yeah, I had to look up ophthalmology.) You'll need to know what it is for when you get cataracts. Which you will do. It's like sore joints and wrinkly skin--all part of the process. You can stay really busy trying to counteract those things, but...well, good luck with that.

If you feel like you're not being busy enough, go to the store before your list is complete so you will have to go back in a couple of days. You will buy stuff you don't really need, but chances are you will before the "use by" date. Of course, it will be at the back of the cupboard by then, so you'll buy it again. Which requires another trip to the store.

Not everyone goes to the store as often as I do, but I see enough of the same people there that I know I'm not the only one.

There is always housework to do. The best response is to ignore it and say, "I need to get that done one of these days."

This also works with buying stuff. If you sew, it's necessary to have a fabric stash that has no bottom to it. You'll still need to replenish it, because you've forgotten where the piece is that you need--I told you you wouldn't remember anything--plus you'll need to buy nice time-saving notions and have enough thread spools to fill the racks on the wall.

If you read, it's necessary to have a stack of books on what's commonly known as a to-be-read pile, hereafter to be referred to as the TBR-pile-from-hell. Which might contain the same book twice. You'll probably never read that one, plus you have a spare--use it as gift. (Unless it's one of mine.)

Okay, I started this morning with nothing to say, and instead I've said far too much, so even though I'm not really finished with all the wisdom I have to share today, I'm way too busy to keep going. I hope you have a wonderful week. Be nice to somebody.