RETIRED….. Now What? (my experiences of early retirement – it's not what you think)

A week away. Soon to be back amongst the masses. Retired and ready to start life 2.0. No new job yet. No new life, yet. What does that mean? New life? It is not like I barely fouled off strike 3. (My Baseball Coach Vinne Monaco used that term all the time when I was 16 and playing ball) So, I found this diagram and Gen-X and what we are. I would add a few comments

Digital savvy. Well, I did start a blog. But how hard is that? I do not have 347 tabs open in my phone browser. Yes, my mother. 76 years old and loves to never close any thing. It is hard to not give her a hard time, because she just is not tech savvy. So, I guess I am better than my parents generation.

A leader? That is hard to say. Yes. I have led. Groups, a team, a part of an organization, men into field training, a group of kids on a field trip. Yes. Did I want to? Maybe… sometimes? But I think our generation does it out of necessity. No one else is taking charge. OR someone is screwing things up so badly, we just get fed up and take charge. It might be better to characterize us as frustrated leaders. Maybe not so empathetic. But confident. Because we have always had to. Been told to be that way as children and because the following generations never wanted to be in charge.

I would also add wiser and possibly more humble. Maybe every generation thinks this. Maybe there are no original thoughts after all. But I think that when we get older and take charge of things. Like the finances, the family traditions at holiday time, the kids baseball team that has not won more than 5 games in the past 3 seasons. We realize, I realize, I know very little. I may feel smart on some things, but mostly, I feel that the more I know, the dumber I feel. (So, so many examples, but that is a post for another day) I just hope I can fool enough of the people to think I do actually know squat. Or convince them that I am aware enough to know when to ask for help. Wisdom? Experience? or just ramblings. Maybe a little bit of them all.