It has been a suck-ass year, but I’m still happy to be retired. I always said I could deal with the stress of a job better than I could deal with the stress of living paycheck-to-paycheck or with no paycheck at all. Not having enough money was a huge family dynamic in my childhood, so I’m sure that’s one of the reasons I hung in there even through some miserable job experiences.
Early on I believed all that crap about finding your passion … which I simply could not find at work. Then I read a book that said don’t worry about passion. The key is to be really good at what you do and always go for the most money if it’s ethical, moral, legal, etc.
Worked for me. I quit expecting a job to make me happy and just tried to do the absolute best job possible so they would value my contributions and pay me more. Although that didn’t add up to early retirement for me, I was 62 and call it earlyish.
I’m glad I don’t have job worries on top of everything else during this pandemic. My neighbor is a widow with three children. She has been working from home but was asked to come in for a meeting where no one wears masks. After a sleepless night of worry, she said no. She still has her job, so there!
My neighbor has a big fat skunk stripe on top of her head – letting the gray grow in as we avoid salons, which are about to close again anyway. She said she was inspired by my hair. I think she’s in her 50s, about the same age I was when I accepted my hair fate.
Although I was pleased with the compliment, it was undeserved, since my hair has been looking so dreadful lately. My hair is fine and looks pretty bad when it gets too long. And it was way overgrown, but I was afraid to cut off more than just the ends.
This week I manned up and went for it. Using the signature pigtail technique, I cut nearly two inches off. It looked great from the front, but it was crooked in the back. I asked Dale if he would feel comfortable trying to even it up, and he said yes.
I have to confess, it was scary. But he did a fantastic job. Not perfect but perfect enough for me. Seriously, I feel like a new person. Now I’m thinking I may never go back to the salon. Of course, Dale, ever the tool nerd, said if he’s going to do it again, he’ll need better scissors. Maybe Santa will bring him some.
I wish I could get him to do my toes.
In other news:
Although I have absolutely no interest in chess, I watched The Queen’s Gambit and loved it!
The turkey has been consumed or frozen. All in all, we had cold turkey sandwiches, hot turkey sandwiches, turkey enchiladas, turkey soup and miniature turkey pot pies. I made three mini-pies and froze them.
As for the enchiladas, I make tortillas all the time, but I have never used homemade tortillas in enchiladas. Not much else going on, so I said, why not? Fantastic. There’s no turning back. The taste and texture of the homemade tortillas is worth the trouble.
My favorite quote of the week is an older one attributed to playwright Richard Greenberg:
Money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it does upgrade despair.
Santa should bring scissors as your husband did a great job. Isn’t having no worries about hair colour a relief? Let’s hear it for grey/white hair!
Oh yes, I could never go back to coloring it again. Yours looks great!
About the Queens Gambit and others like it. I have heard great things about it, the “Good Place”, and other episodic shows. I just can’t stand them – for god sake get it over with. They drag on way beyond where they are even remotely interesting anymore. I did try the “Gambit” and “Good Place” and kept thinking this will be over soon. Not a chance. I finally had to give it up. Boring. “The Whicher” – same thing. Ok maybe not boring but the plot gets too complicated to enjoy.
The same people who watch these on and on complain about the pandemic going on too long – really?
A lot of the Netflix and A Prime shows look interesting but they most turn out to be episodic. Started “Dash and Lilly” the other night before I realize how long it was. 4 episodes (~2 hours) is ok, But 6 or 8 or 1o?! 70 hours of Game of Thrones?! Who the heck has that much time to waste?
I guess I’m just annoyed that the shows look great and I would watch if they got it over with quicker. I even tried skipping episodes but you lose the plot so that does not work.
Ok end of rant – thanks for listening – I feel better now. Does anybody else feel this way?
Hi Bill — I’m glad you felt this was a good place to rant! I’ll share this. I just got home and was listening to Sirius radio. I know this is odd, but I sometimes switch back and forth between Outlaw Country and the Broadway musical channel. The Broadway channel was playing a song from The Sound of Music, and when it was over, the host said the play got terrible reviews when it first came out. Then he mentioned a few others that are now world-famous but got horrible reviews. He said you have to remember a review is just one person’s opinion. The host was encouraging everyone to see movies and plays when it is safe to do so again and not worry about critical acclaim. Just go with what you’d like to try.
I’ve followed up on recommendations from readers and others. Some I can’t stand, but I always have a few in my queue that I enjoy very much. I love the streaming options we have these days. My husband would take your side. He can’t sit through any of it.
I am a couple of years older than you and also have long gray hair. I occasionally go to the salon for a professional cut but most of the time (all the time since the pandemic) get my husband to cut it. He does a pretty good job. He even cut my granddaughter’s hair last week. I am going to order some good hair cutting scissors…been using my sewing scissors. When this is over I will resume going back to the salon a couple times a year for a professional haircut but with the husband haircuts in between.
On the other hand he wouldn’t let me near his hair with a pair of scissors if his life depended on it.
We are in the middle of watching The Queen’s Gambit and very much enjoying it.
I like your idea of getting a professional haircut with my husband doing trim in between. That seems like it will be a year or so away. I’m going on Amazon to look for scissors!
Your husband did a great job in cutting the back of your hair. When can I stop over for my hair appointment:) I am totally in agreement with what you said regarding your job. I felt the same way when I was working and I retired 2 months before my 63rd birthday. Does that count as retiring at 62? I tell myself I retired at 63 because I had planned to retire after 63 years but because I was assigned to a project that caused me quite a bit of stress, I said “To heck with it.” and retired earlier because I could. Yay!
Good for you! I’m surprised I did it, to be honest. I was always so gung-ho, at least on the surface. It finally got to a point where I knew that once I felt comfortable about the money, I was outtie. No regrets.
So totally agree about the passion thing – never could “find” one and hated that advice. Decided to give up the quest and replace it with a goal of making as much as possible so I could get out as soon as possible. I was fortunate to be able to leave the work world behind one month before my 58th birthday – so, hitting my goal of 57 “at the latest.” LOL. I’m enjoyed the last 3 years more than any of those passion-less work years :). Loved The Queen’s Gambit too.
I suspect there are more of us than there are those who find passion through a job. Congratulations to you!
I am so thankful to be retired during all this. I’d be working from home if I wasn’t, which is ok but I can only handle that for so long. Even as an introvert, I was happier in the office. I’ve discovered my passion is retirement!!
Ditto!