It’s been almost two months since I ‘retired’. I’m still not warming to that word. I remember speaking to a colleague at the beginning of the year when I was thinking of resigning. ‘You mean retiring’ was his immediate response. Being a couple of years younger than me he added another comment which I found really sad. ‘I just can’t face moving into the final stage of my life!’
This ‘final stage’ holds no fear for me. It could easily be the best stage! Hopefully it will be longer than my ‘angst’ ridden teenage years or even the following ten years in an unsuitable marriage.
So, as part of this new and exiting journey, I have decided that I’ll do something that makes me happy every day. This sounds selfish but won’t be at the expense of anyone else. It could be a walk with friends, out for lunch, just being able to enjoy a cup of tea in our Teak House, a thatched wooden circular building at the bottom of the garden. It’s a realistic target and can be easily met with little effort.
The sun is shining today, the ground is wet as we have experienced a typical English summer over the last few days. It has brought immense relief to humans as well as animals and plants!
I’m walking with friends this afternoon and will jog home. Jogging is my personal fight against dementia. There are days when I feel as if my chest will burst just trying to breathe! But the exertion gets the blood pumping up to my brain and my ‘fitbit’ goes into overdrive!
So the walk with friends will make me happy and the run home will give me the satisfaction that I have done something to stave off an awful, debilitating, cruel disease. It’s ‘win’ ‘win’! 👠
Jenny Burrell 