Inspiration and Marigolds

Three seemingly unrelated items:

1. I have found someone to replace myself at my part-time consulting gig, so I should be back to full-time retirement within a few months!
2. I have seen the trailer to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, four times now and I really want to see the movie.  I might even want to visit India.
3. A couple of years ago my father-in-law wrote this post about traveling and learning with Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel).

One of the things I have learned about myself while working at my part-time consulting gig this last year is that it’s important for me to do things that are hard.  I don’t mean all the time, but I need to intersperse periods of leisure with periods of challenge.  I’d prefer to find the balance that doesn’t cause undue stress, but I know that I have to do this for myself now that I won’t be consulting anymore. 

In a job situation, it comes naturally; the challenges present themselves without much effort to find them.  In retirement, you have to set the challenges up yourself.  They don’t generally present themselves on their own.  After I’ve had a chance to unwind from this last working gig, I’m going to be looking for something to do where I feel like I’m contributing, like I’m part of a team, and where I am challenged.  I’ll be looking for a volunteer gig.

My strongest passion, when contemplating volunteering, is working with dogs.  I am happiest when in the presence of dogs.  Yet, I’m not quite ready to commit to a canine member for our family.   I’m enjoying the freedom to travel and make spontaneous plans too much to adopt a dog.  And I fear that if I volunteer at an animal shelter, I’ll fall in love with too many dogs and I won’t have the willpower to resist bringing them all home.

But there is some amazing matchmaking going on now with dogs and their people.  Like the match made by an Ohio organization, 4 Paws, between Chancer, a Golden Retriever, and his boy Iyal.  Iyal was adopted from a Russian orphanage by an Atlanta couple.  The couple learned after years of difficulties with Iyal that he was a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome.  Chancer is helping Iyal.

And in another heart-warming story, Devon, another sweet Retriever, is helping his Iraq war veteran deal with the debilitating effects of her post-traumatic stress disorder.   Where therapy and medication have failed, Devon is succeeding.

These stories inspire me.

But back to the three seemingly unrelated items. 

Inspired by the release of the Marigold movie, and “building on the film’s themes of hope and reinvention in the second half of life,” Participant Media has joined with Encore.org and Road Scholar to sponsor a contest, “Marigold Ideas for Good.”  Contestants over 50 can submit their ideas for bettering their communities, and 30 of them will win a $5,000 grant to help make it happen. 

I’m looking forward to reading their inspirational ideas, and maybe even yours!  (Click here to enter.)

 

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Comments

[Sightings]

We got our dog from a shelter a couple of years ago -- a scraggly mutt, but the best dog in the world! And if you ever wanted a challenge, there's nothing more challenging (but also rewarding) than training your dog.

[Retired Syd]

@Sightings: We had a Beagle for 14 years. It wasn't a challenge to train her, it SIMPLY COULD NOT BE DONE. (Beagle owners, back me up here.) But we loved her and I still miss her, 7 years later.

Over the last years, we've had about 5 different dogs over for about a week at a time while their parents go on vacation, most of them Labs or Retrievers. My husband always says, "Man, if we had this dog first, we'd already have another dog by now."

There will be another in our life, but probably when we're done with our wanderlust.

[Dave Bernard]

Good points Syd and beautiful Marigolds! I read recently that 38% of retired folks would like to alternate between retirement life and working in some capacity for awhile. Like you many are used to and like to have a manageable challenge in their life. Working at something keeps us engaged and sharp so when we are on the down side - aka time off - we enjoy ourselves that much more.

[Retired Syd]

@Dave: Not to mention you have a little extra spending money in your pocket for that time off.

[new at this]

Somehow, (from the perspective of someone who is still way too deep in the working world), this post sounds like one you never would have forecasted you'd write (back when you were still a wage slave...)

Congrats on having the financial acumen to get this bored...!

[Retired Syd]

@New: I definitely didn't think I'd be seeking challenge in my retirement. That's NOT to say, however, that I've ever been bored in retirement. I always have too much to do to be bored!

But there is something about getting on the other side of having done something hard that turns out to give me a boost. The reason I didn't really notice that before I retired 4 years ago is I wasn't really very challenged in my old job for the last several years of it. It wasn't until this consulting gig that I remembered what that felt like.

Even my photography class is giving me that experience. It's totally new to me and I'm struggling and then learning. I'm thinking about learning a new instrument too.

But first I want to enjoy a few months of R&R with only the challenge of figuring out what to have for dinner!

[fred doe]

Volunteering is something that takes a lot of thought sometimes. Maybe more then picking a job? Before I retired I thought about training Seeing Eye dogs because I was working in Morristown N.J. and saw people walking them. On further investigation I fond that the people I saw were highly trained professionals. But wait in the Jersey area you can take one of the puppies for about a year and raise it and walk it and get it use to people. The catch is you gotta give him up :( I'd do it except I have two feral cats one's 25lbs (and no he's not fat just dam big) and the other has six toes and that comes from inter breeding (he's an inbred feral cat) they ain't exactly loving. They'd hurt a puppy. There's other things I help out on but like all my part time jobs there on call. Keeps things flexible no what I mean?

[jason]

Challenges make life exciting!

Without challenging myself, I think I'd sit around picking my nose at some 9-5 job all day. boring

[Tamara]

Regarding Item 3 - I'm just now beginning to work on what I hope will turn into a 6-8 week trip to New Zealand in early 2014. The plan is to alternate hiking around New Zealand, with using a car and staying at what are called Motels & Caravan Parks. These appear to be budget friendly facilities that include the bare basics, along with small kitchen facilities, ranging from $60 to $100 USD per night.

Still on the hunt for how to do this as affordably as possible, which is half the fun really!

[Retired Syd]

@Tamara: A couple of my friends went to New Zealand and rented a camper upon arrival. They just took their home with them everywhere. But I find it really stressful to drive on the "wrong" side of the road so I think doing it in a camper would push me over the edge for sure.