TAKING TIME TO SMELL THE COFFEE
This morning I went into Starbucks and I SAT DOWN. This was the first time in 20 years that I wasn’t running in the door, hair flying behind me, feeling frazzled if there was more than one person in line ahead of me. No, this was great. I took my Venti coffee and my teenie weenie petite mini vanilla scone (delicious but verrrry verrrry small!) and I SAT DOWN.
So what, you ask? Well, this was a sign. It was a sign that I feel like I can slow down. Everything. Every aspect of my life. No pressure to be anywhere or do anything. Metirement is just slowing down. But in a good, positive way. Not the “slowing down” meaning getting old or sitting in the lounge chair in front of the TV. No, Metirement means slowing down to actually savor the coffee, smell the coffee (like the old adage about taking time to smell the flowers), enjoy the scone, appreciate every moment of every day.
It’s about tiME. This simple phrase has a double meaning. I never realized that before because I never had the TIME to realize much of anything. The first, and most obvious meaning, is that it is about time that I get to do all of the things that I want to do. Its second meaning emphasizes the word time. I now have the time to do all of the things that I was never able to do when I was too busy working. I plan on writing a few posts about some daily activities I enjoyed before MEtirement and now after. A whole different perspective on the world. New schedule. New pace.
Routines mean different things to me now and I savor the time I now spend doing them. Even that simple morning Starbucks run. It’s about time that I can sit and enjoy my coffee and do absolutely nothing but think. It’s about time I can watch and empathize with the people who have to scamper off to work. I have been going to the same Starbucks for years. I have watched countless people interviewing for jobs there. I would dash in and see poor nervous souls waiting for the interviewer to show up and hopefully, hire them. Or at least just give them a second look. But never once did I sit down near them. Instead, I would dash in. Dash out. Some mornings I barely took the time to add milk to my Venti Bold. Too busy. Too pressured.
And now….it’s all about the joy I feel that I have the chance actually to taste the coffee instead of just gulping it down in the car. The luxury of time. Before MEtirement time wasn’t a luxury. Time just was and I never noticed how fast it was moving. Until it slowed down long enough for me to notice the details of life and appreciate them.
This is not to say that work is not fulfilling and challenging sometimes. It’s just that you don’t appreciate every moment of work the way you appreciate the time that you construct and fill for yourself. Doing anything and everything that looks interesting. Or doing nothing except thinking about doing nothing.
Metirement gives all new meaning to life and to each day and the coffee smells wonderful.
