Discipline

Hello and Good Day. Hope You and your Family had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and enjoyed that special moment of time Together!

And now, no doubt caught up the flurry of the Holiday Season preparation… stay calm and allow yourself the opportunity to get caught up in the “Spirit” of the Holiday Season and not the hustle/bustle!

*note: Oh, a housekeeping item; if You are reading this article from your phone, You may not see the embedded image. It’s fine when reading the articles from the ‘Terry’s Thoughts’ website. If You are not seeing the image, please click on the article title and the image will then present itself. ( an idiosyncrasy of the website domain I’m using for my blog ).

Ok, now back to my thought…

In a past article, ( #4; “What’s Next.. What Am I Going To Do Today?”), I spoke to the time management aspect of this Encore time of our life. An aspect You will need to work through because now even though the day is Yours, no longer already (fully) scheduled for You from the day full of meetings/conference calls, fire drills from project activities, etc., how You manage your time will remain to play an important role on your day.

Sounds odd, doesn’t it?!

You will need to respect the use of your time so as not to fall victim to old habits on how You find the time to do the things most important to You. You would think no longer working and freeing up the day would just hand You the freedom to just do what You want/when You want/on your terms.

Of course it does because there are no longer the 12+ hour days of handling work and those many priorities demanding your attention from everywhere in addition to attending to your Family and personal life. However, the freedom of the hours does not immediately translate into doing what is most important for You. You might find a bit of struggle after the first few months to create the perfect day which will keep the drive alive for cashing in on what You worked so hard to achieve after all those years to reach this stage of life.

How do You sustain the drive? You continue to remain disciplined and true to yourself. Remember how readily we took risks with uncertain payoffs when we were developing our career? And, we are afraid to risk even one minute of our time for leisure!  We might feel guilty about being idle! We wonder if we’re being reckless for pursuing only our happiness ! While those are fair concerns, they miss the potential upside that we can get from this time. Crazy isn’t it!

No matter what the fairy tale may be of reaching our Encore years and living out the remainder of our story, we must remain ourselves. We must continue to have an inner drive to be that someone continuing to grow, add value, learn & develop skills and most importantly, be satisfied with who we are and what we have accomplished.

So while you are blessed in this life with this life…use it.

It’s easy to be at this phase of life with all the free time and allow the days to move along. Although, relaxing is a huge reward we earned from all the prior years hard work and sacrifice. It’s important not to stop deferring what you have always wanted to do—stop deferring what You know You were meant to do, what You know is right to do.

Realize you cannot assume you will get six more months, let alone x-number of more years. Whatever it is, make the time, let it relax and strengthen You and fulfill you.  You deserve it -and- need it!

There is nothing to feel guilty about for making time for leisure and stillness. It’s not reckless, it’s nourishing. It’s replenishing. It’s joy, and it’s admirable.

The next step; continue to move forward with confidence. We were confident in our career… don’t stop now, continue on your path. Avoid looking back, (a bad habit of mine), or giving up now that we have achieved some level of happiness and success. Your confidence and remaining on your personal path allows You to not be concerned about tomorrow, for tomorrow’s already taken care of. You continue because You know You’re on the right path for yourself and that will bring peace and blocks the distractions that try to bump You off your life’s goal, (whatever You have set as your goal). Keep fighting, focus on your (new) goals and as important as it has been throughout your life; continue to surround yourself with supportive people!

Next up; remain patient. Seems obvious, although we are no longer stressed with work, life continues to happen and continues to provide those stress points.

Whatever life hands us, we have to make it right.  We  have to create progress and good from it.  It’s unfair, but it is fate.  We can turn this misfortune into improving our future.

Nobody knows what the day or the week has in store for us. As much as we take care of ourselves and eat well, so much of our health is outside of our control. But the one way we can make sure that we are always well, that we are always getting better (mentally, spiritually, if not physically) is by the relationships we cherish, books we read, the questions we ask, and the conversations we have.

I’m finding the best advice I can provide from my life’s experience so far in my Encore journey for a happy retirement is to be present and in the moment. Without outside expectations and schedules, with your time finally fully your own, at last you can try to create a new version of the life you always wanted.

Continue to reignite your passions, allow this to be the beginning of the rest of your life -and- as always;

“Never quit searching, never settle and never give up seeking your greater purpose!“