I read today (as I have read every June 27 for the past 20 years and never before noticed) that "Activity is not achievement." (Words to Live By, Eknath Easwaran)
I note it today probably because friends who are considering retirement ask me, "What do you do all day?"
I tell them: "Anything I want to." Which is not all that satisfactory to them, but it is the truth. The underlying truth being that I have learned over my years that I need to have one direct, all-encompassing goal to live by, and all I do or think of doing is tied to that one goal.
Many diverse opportunities come to me most everyday...I take whichever keeps me headed toward my goal.
This is not done consciously. In fact, I only realized it as I thought about it recently, as I looked back over my day and days. It, no doubt, started out as a conscious act, but now it is...I guess it qualifies as "muscle memory," brain-muscle memory. Hold to the goal, and all else falls in line behind.
Those friends who are on the fence about retirement usually say that they have to have structure in their life, they need the discipline of structure. They immediately start looking for places to volunteer, activities to become involved with...neither of which is a bad thing. The end result is seldom satisfying though. When one is just filling up one's hours to get through the day, that is the only feeling of accomplishment one's likely to have at the end of the day: Glad this day's over, 'night now.
The proof of my goal working for me is that I have never been happier. I've never been more available to others, never been more called upon by others. And we laugh...a lot. There. That's God's proof.
Thank You.
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