We hit a major milestone in the Life Vision last weekend. A milestone we have been planning since we retired 2.5 years ago; the milestone that had a massive derailment in January. And hitting this moment feels completely anti-climactic!
After the previous plan fell apart, I spent many sleepless nights in January pondering the various scenarios to making the milestone still hit this spring. There were literally days planning and scheduling to find a new plan. And then even more hours of planning to ensure that it would be executed without a glitch as it started to look like it might still happen. We didn’t have confirmation until 7 days before that everything was a “go”.
Every step of the execution I expected something to go wrong. I had thought through so many contingency plans. I had put into place a bunch of fail-safe elements. I had lists upon lists of details. My corporate project management skills were in full force!
Everything went smooth.
And now it’s done. And instead of elation, I just feel a sense of emptiness. I’m trying to understand why hitting this milestone is not the huge moment I expected.
Yes, I feel a decided lack of appreciation for all the effort I put into making it happen. It happened without incident because of all the work I put in… most everyone just saw it happen – no big deal.
No, I didn’t do anything to actually celebrate the achievement. It happened. Move on.
Perhaps I need to break out a bottle of champagne for myself and toast the achievement. Look in the mirror and acknowledge the hours of effort. Take the words of a blogger friend: “The greatest gift we can give ourselves is to forgive others for being human.” Forgive others for not expressing appreciation the way you want.
And then realize the rest of the Life Vision now has more potential to be realized. This milestone removed a barrier that opens up so much potential. Rejoice in that. Look forward, not back.
Have you ever felt anti-climactic when achieving milestones?
Picture Credit: Pixabay
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I can relate big time! Paying off our house a few months ago felt far less amazing than I expected it to. I do think fwiw that celebrating the milestone helped it feel better than it would have without marking the milestone (a birthday is more fun with a party, right?!), so I recommend you pop the bubbly and celebrate your accomplishment!
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Someone pointed out to me that when you’re working and hit milestones, there are lots of folks there to say good-job. Now, in retirement, not so much. It’s been helpful to reach out to my blogger friends! I’m definitely going to do a personal celebration this week!
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I think all milestones leave an anti-climactic feeling – after all, they’re not ‘real’ in a sense – they’re all in the expectation, not in the achievement. But what IS the milestone you achieved? I’m very curious.
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We moved my autistic sister-in-law into a supported care retirement community. She had lived with us since her mom died and we are craving more freedom in retirement. If you know about autism, any change is a challenge. And her living requirements have specific routines that needed to be put into place. Our initial plan, which we had spent 18 months putting together and was supposed to be executed in January, fell completely apart at the last minute. So I went back into planning mode …with our life vision going from wide open to shackled again. Was a tough couple of months.
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Pat, I completely relate to your sentiment. But the fact is…the better you plan the less drama. So, yes, celebrate that the event went smoothly without a hitch. That is amazing! So happy it went well.
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Thanks Loretta. I keep thinking we’ll have a meltdown moment, but it’s still going well…into week three. Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks… we are headed south in April!
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I don’t think it’s that unusual to feel a bit anti-climatic (even a little let down) when you reach a milestone that you’ve worked so hard to achieve. You’ve put so much energy into the process that you forget to celebrate the goal. And, yes, when you make it look easy (even when it’s very difficult), most people may fail to realize how hard you’ve worked (unfortunately, we tend to be rather selfish creatures). I say celebrate your achievements and allow yourself to relish the feeling of accomplishment – you deserve it! Don’t let the fact that other people might not fully appreciate what you’ve done dampen your happy dance.
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Janis, I love the phrase Happy Dance. I will definitely do that this week! It’s been helpful to have my blogger friends virtually celebrating with me as well… so thank you for that as well.
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Hi, Pat – Now it is my turn to feel like I am missing something. I am so happy for you that your hard work and diligence removed a barrier that can now open up so much potential. Definitely rejoice in that!!
PS – I love the quote “The greatest gift we can give ourselves is to forgive others for being human.” I’ll be borrowing that!!
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Donna, I’ve been a bit vague on the milestone as it’s very family specific. Simply, we had been planning for 18 months to move my autistic sister-in-law (who lived with us) into a supported care retirement community in January, which would give hubby and me the freedom we crave in retirement. January 3rd, the plan fell apart, completely. So our life vision fell apart. I went into serious project management mode to find an alternative plan…90 hours I estimated of searching, assessing, planning and then, yes, moving her in March. It’s my SIL, and my in-law extended family has not been very appreciative of anything. And the planning was tough – she is autistic and needs a lot of routine and structure, which I made sure was there in the final move. Oh – I can’t recall who’s blog I read that quote in…. it really hit me as well. Especially as I was being bitter on the lack of family support/appreciation I got on making this move a reality.
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