Vacation from Retirement!

I am retired but...I work.
I work part time at the library as a page, shelving books.
I write a blog every week, even when I don't have ideas on what to write about.
I am also a happiness teacher and I teach the science of happiness classes. 
I maintain Facebook and Twitter sites. 
I am slowing building a web site, reading library books to do it.
I have many meetings and think of creative ways to spread happiness.  
Oh, and I go to the gym 4-5 times a week.  

Retirement is the action or fact of leaving one's job and ceasing to work.  
I did leave my very high stress career in Recruiting and Hiring with many deadlines and lots of pounding my head against the wall in frustration. 
But I have not ceased to work so am I retired?  

I love going to the library to "work."  I see and touch thousands of books, have immediate access to the new books and very nice co-workers and supervisors who appreciate me.  When I go home I do not worry about the books or if the work is getting done. 

But I also love those days spent at my computer writing and creating.  And the days when I am spreading happiness, teaching others the scientific concepts of well being and flourishing, those are exciting and fulfilling too.  Sometimes I enroll in classes and learn or visit friends or hang out with my girls. Some of my best times are at the Apple Store learning, learning and learning more while in the flow of the moment, not believing an hour has gone by! 

Every day after the gym, I am lucky to come home to a healthy protein smoothie, with mystery ingredients, concocted by my husband, Dennis. 

                             It is a nice time of the day to catch my breath 

                                                              and 

                                    contemplate my life, with gratitude.

Before I retired I made a long list of projects and things to do so I could stay busy and not get bored or become lazy.  I never work on that list.  I want to make a family cookbook, create photo albums, organize our finances so I am not the only one that knows what is going on, write an e-book on my Hold Accounts method, make a quilt, paint a room, clean the garage and the list goes on and on. I might need to take a vacation from retirement to accomplish those tasks.

I have friends and family that think I am too busy and some days I feel like slowing down the pace.  But since I "retired" I no longer need blood pressure medicine, I make it a priority to get 7 hours of sleep, my eating habits are much healthier and I am now learning or trying to learn meditation.  Yes, I am busy...but I am busy doing what makes me happy, gives me a purpose and having a whole lot of fun.

Life isn't always without stress and problems, though I deal with those times and hope they pass quickly.  I try to lean towards optimism in my life of retirement, and when I don't, thank goodness I have friends who remind me.

This week we are celebrating our 31st anniversary.  

I am taking a vacation from retirement.  

I will not go to work.  

I will be away from home, traveling.  

I will take some books to read and watch beautiful scenery.

I will eat meals out, indulge in desserts more than once and laugh. 

But mostly I will contemplate my life, with gratitude.  

A vacation from retirement 

to slow down 

and 

savor these moments.

Life is good.