Happy Anniversary to Me!

~ patwdoyle11

July is a big month for me here at Retirement Transition.  It’s the anniversary of my retirement day (7 years) and the anniversary of my blog (6 years).   As I have noted many times, I do think “retirement transition” continues to be an accurate term because retirement, like life, is a series of transitions.  Some are big, like figuring what’s next after a time-consuming career, managing through a health crisis, or moving to a completely new state and environment.  Others are small, like deciding to take on a new activity, establishing a new habit, or breaking some old conditioned responses.

It doesn’t feel like it’s been 7 years!  Looking back on my blog posts however was like looking back on my retirement and everything I’ve tired on, learned about, or transitioned into.  I have learned how to be (versus always doing), gotten more comfortable with being average (versus always trying to be perfect or achieve mastery), and gotten much better at not doing Compare & Despair or hearing expectations when they are not there.  I’ve accepted I’m a planner and a dabbler and a bit of a homebody.  And I’ve loved being part of the blogging community where I continue to be inspired, validated (yeah, I still need that), and challenged (in a good way).

  • I’ve had 262 posts in the 6 years and over 30,000 visits to my blog.  There are 850 individuals who have chosen to follow me and I am simply overwhelmed at that number! Thank you!
  • I’ve posted many, many times about my Retirement Transition Process, which was based on applying the design thinking innovation approach I used in my career to an individual.  Of course, many of those posts went into my book (still available here on Amazon – link).  I’m considering doing some “Throwback Thursdays” to those retirement transition how-to posts in the near future for folks newer to my blog and closer to that big post-career retirement transition point.  Please let me know if this would be of interest to you!
  • I still use many of the Retirement Transition Cool Tools I discovered, in some cases modified, and then applied. Jolts of Joy (from September 2015!), Emotional Awareness (from May 2016), New Things Tracking (from June 2018) and Vision Statements (summary in Sept 2020) are some I use regularly.  My current vision statement of “Active, Connected, Creative, and Contemplative” still resonates with me.
  • I laughed at some of my blog titles, which I think show my quirky use of words but are also reflective of my personal truths: Thinking about Thinking (August 2018), Planned Spontaneity (November 2018), and Living the & (Feb 2020).
  • My blog continues to be my life coach (first noted in March 2016!).  But posts also reflect the areas of personal development I’ve explored from the 2019’s series on personal spirituality (too many to link) to 2020’s series on Positive Psychology (also too many to link) and most recently Enneagram and Human Design.  I’ve incorporated many of the insights gathered to shift my self-limiting beliefs, grow in self-acceptance, and curate a retirement lifestyle that links to my core values and drives life satisfaction.

I’m not the person I was when I retired, nor the person I was when I began this blog.  I’ve heard it said that we have a seven-year cycle and that feels about right. At this 7-year mark, I’m beginning a new lifestyle, in a new location, and compared to 7 years ago, as a new me.   Happy Anniversary to me!

Picture: Taylor (and me) watching sunset one night this week.

Published by patwdoyle11

Life is a series of transitions and my blog captures my retirement transition journey.

29 thoughts on “Happy Anniversary to Me!”

  2. Hi Pat, congratulations on seven years. That is a great accomplishment. I have taken an unintended break from my blog this summer, but this makes me anxious to get back to it! You seem to have landed in a good place both emotionally and physically. My best, Michele

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    1. Michele, a number of folks I normally see blogging have slowed down in their posting or dropped out completely. Sometimes I wonder how long I’ll keep going! Looking forward to seeing more from you – your posts are always so inspiring to me.

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  3. Congratulations!! I’m just getting ready to retire (probably early next year), I would love to learn more about this: “I’m considering doing some “Throwback Thursdays” to those retirement transition how-to posts in the near future for folks newer to my blog and closer to that big post-career retirement transition point.” Thank you

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  4. Congratulations for both anniversaries. I love reading your thoughts and considerations on all aspects of retirement and transitions. Blogging rocks!

    Thanks so much for linking up this week for #LifeThisWeek. Your blog posts are welcome contributions when you share. I appreciate that a great deal. Next week is #ShareYourSnaps. It’s an optional prompt of course. Hope to see you then. Denyse

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  5. Congratulations on both your anniversaries! I completely agree that ‘transitions’ happen throughout life, and not just in retirement. The seven-year cycle makes perfect sense. We are going through a big adjustment at the moment and I am anxious to be more settled. Yes to recycling some of your older posts. I love reading about the experiences of others, especially when they have successfully navigated difficult waters.

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    1. Thanks for the incentive. I am going to try the Throwback Thursday and see how it goes – both from my side (fun creating) and the readers side (likes and comments)!

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  7. Congrats on both anniversaries Pat – and yes I think we’re all very different women to who we were seven years ago. A lot of water under the bridge. What I love is that the woman I am today is SO much happier and more content than the woman I was when I started blogging 6.5 years ago – and my blog has been part of that transition – it gave me a place to put my thoughts into some sort of cohesiveness and it’s been an interesting journey. I’m so glad you’re settled and happy and launching off into the next seven year stage – happy life travels x

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    1. Leanne, You are so right about the blog allowing me to “put my thoughts into cohesiveness”. It’s also been a bit of an accountability space as well for me, which has helped me make some of the changes I wanted to make. Like you, I am so much happier and more content now than I was 7 years ago. Who knows what the next 7 years will bring!

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    1. Leslie, Yeah, even with the horrible algae bloom we are dealing with (huge fish kills, terrible air quality), I’m still in a pretty good place emotionally. Daily gratitude, connecting to folks here on the blog, and trying to be (more than do) is helping!

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    1. Janis, Since you’ve been with me on the entire journey (through the blog), you’ve seen the changes for sure! And now, a whole new path and I’ll see if blogging continues to be a part of it.

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  12. Happy anniversaries. As an aside, the 7 year cycle is linked to an astrology thing. The transit of Saturn (28 years) aligns to the “crisis” we tend to have around 28 and again around that retirement age (ie around 56ish) and is also marked by turning points at each 7 year mark. Any project or relationship or whatever has the same sort of turning point at those times. Very often it’s a sort of a taking stock am I on the right track sort of time…if you’re into that sort of thing, of course…

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    1. Jo, Thanks so much for the insight into the 7-year cycle. I’m not overly surprised it’s an astrology thing. I was kinda surprised how I’ve made such a big shift at 7 years myself. It hadn’t occurred to me until I noted the anniversary on my calendar. Nice to know I’m on schedule!

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  13. Happy anniversaries! It always makes me happy when people talk about how much their blogs have meant to them. I remember reading your positive psychology posts and really liked them. Your quirky titles are lovely – I really like creative titles.

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    1. Susanne, Now I’m going to have to think about quirky titles more often. LOL. A few times the quirky phrase comes to me, so I’ll have to watch for those moments and flush them out more often. Thanks for being here!

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  16. Happy Retirement and Blog Anniversary!

    And thanks for lighting the way! I retired in 2017, and I’ve found your blog and your book immensely helpful and reassuring.

    Best wishes and thanks from Scotland,

    Morag

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