Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Lock (03/06/06)
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TITLE: Dont' Lock Yourself In | Previous Challenge Entry
By Eileen Chaloner
03/11/06 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
It’s easy to rush through life and not think what life’s all about.
After working in a bank for forty years I thought it time I had some time for myself.
It’s not easy to retire. The question keeps coming up what will I do in retirement?
Lunch each and every day sounds good when you never seem to have time for lunch at work. How many lunches do you need before you get bored? Sleep in each and every day sounds good when you seem to have been sleep deprivated for the past forty years.
How long do you sleep in before you get bedsores?
In 1996 my best friend died from a dreaded disease and that’s when I started to look at my life and realise if I didn’t live life to the full it would be soon all over. This life was no dress rehearsal this life was now. When someone so close to you dies it awakens within you a realization that death is so final.
Back to retirement: the day finally came with happiness and trepidation. I was told by all and sundry to sit back for six months and take life in before committing yourself to everything and having no time for anything. Being a good listener I did as I was told and enjoyed cleaning, sewing and cooking and being the very domestic housewife. This pleased my husband but once the six months was up I was very toey to get on the road and do something worthwhile. For forty years I was a daily achiever and each day I couldn’t say I’d achieved much only the daily chores of house keeping.
Our local hospice for the dying was always looking for volunteers. I’d had very little to do with the dying so was very hesitant to make the commitment. After two weeks of training I was asked in what capacity I’d like to volunteer. A leader who counselled me thought it better to work at a geriatric centre nearby. The real reason being that I had an
elderly mother in a nursing home and thought it best to stay away from the dying for the time being.
I felt a little let down but I went off for the day at the geriatric centre all enthused, hoping to achieve something that seemed to be missing from my life since leaving the bank six months earlier. First up it didn’t fill the gaping hole but I persevered and persevered and one day out of the blue it hit me.
I realised I’d been searching for satisfaction and achieving as in my old job at the bank but retirement wasn’t about achieving it’s about giving something back. I’ve had my just rewards for my achieving now I must give back.
I was locked in to this old mindset.
Now I so look forward to going to the centre each Tuesday. I now set out to just touch each and every person there and say something nice even if it’s trivial, anything to just make these old people smile. I’m sure some don’t even know what I’m saying. Now I’m longer locked inside my own achieving brain I find it easy to give something with love and attention.
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Thanks for reminding us that the giving is what counts.