Self-acceptance is an area I am working on this year (link to blog on WOTY). As part of working on self-acceptance, I am very aware of my tendency to rely on external validation. It’s also part of my perfectionism tendency. It shows up in me avoiding conflict and disagreements, often being overly accommodating, and spiraling … Continue reading A Deep Dive Into External Validation
Most folks probably won’t care about my summer research project. But I’m kind of proud of it. Some elements I’ve learned about my true self is I love to learn about new things, l can get lost for hours delving into research on a topic, and I adore synthesizing that research into “so what”. I … Continue reading My 2024 Summer Research Project – Plants!
One of the continuing challenges for me in retirement has been creating and maintaining connections/friendships. I’ve stated before that when I left full-time working, I lost 80% of my daily connections. While these were not necessarily all close friendships, they were connections that provided me with support, validation, advice, a sounding board, and inspiration. Intentional … Continue reading Additional Thoughts on Friendship
Recently, a newly retired acquaintance commented how she feels bad that she doesn’t want to travel in retirement as that’s what seems to be expected. Unfortunately, the expectations for retirement remain the same for a newly retired professional – consult, travel, high-level volunteer (meaning be on a board of directors), and/or spend time with grandkids. … Continue reading The Things I Thought I Would Do
I scroll Facebook a couple of times a day. (Please don’t judge me!) I enjoy catching up with my friend’s activities & travels, seeing notifications for upcoming events, learning about local places, and reading the positive memes and stories. I often will link onto an article for deeper reading. I’ve started jotting down some of … Continue reading Quotes for Personal Development
A blogger I followed for a number of years announced her retirement from blogging and, in fact, retirement from almost all use of social media. Over the years, I have seen a number of bloggers leave the blog-o-sphere. And each time I wonder, is it time for me to pack it in? With a blog … Continue reading Happy Anniversary to Me
I’ve created a number of new routines since retirement. Hubby’s recent knee replacement surgery disrupted a number of them. I began to wonder, were my new routines a new life rhythm or were they actually ruts, as in an inability to be flexible? Of course, I explored the concept of routines and ruts on line. … Continue reading Rhythms, Routines, or Ruts?
I am a huge proponent of To-Do Lists. I get stressed if there’s not a list of things for me to do, even if it’s all just possibilities. If it’s not written down on a list, I totally forget about it. I’ve even added in a new tool this year, an I-Did-It List (link to … Continue reading To Be, To Do, Do-be-do-be-do
I read an article the other day that had me wondering about retirement again. The article was about the positive side of flunking retirement! The article’s research (link here) indicated that, “Only 44% of the people who stop working ever consider themselves to be happy in retirement.” So apparently 56% of people should actually “flunk … Continue reading Am I Failing at Flunking?
Back in January, I contemplated a Word of the Year choice (link to post here). Over the years, I’ve used a WOTY a few times to really help me shift mindset. The years I choose Joy, Soar, Release were all extremely helpful. JOY in 2016 (link here) really helped me focus on finding joy in … Continue reading Acceptance – An Unchosen WOTY
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