I’ve got about a couple of extra years in me to continue working in this capacity. No rhyme or reason for it but I think I’ve just reached that age where you don’t need to prove anything to anyone anymore.
Besides, I’ve seen and worked with all different tasks and projects that over the years have become repetitive. I’ve heard of the same issues, same problems, same restrictions, same same everywhere.
Yawn. ?
Guess you can say that the excitement has well and truly left the building.
There comes a time in your life where you think, “Do I really need to keep doing this?”
So I turn to job adverts and have a bit of a “Look See” but what I see are pages and pages of a Yawn Fest of Learning & Development roles.
Companies looking for people who can do everything under the sign and be paid a pittance. Or looking for some graduate with super dooper skills.
I look through jobs in the Learming and Development area and it looks like nothing much has changed since five years ago so I quickly shut down the pages because I realise that it’s the LAST place I should look unless I want to die of boredom really quickly.
It’s got me thinking about what I can do to fill my time when formal work finishes in, say, two years time? (I don’t know if it’ll end up two years – it could be more or it could be less if I just decide to pull the pin).
How will I pass my time in retirement? ?
Well apart from socialising on the golf course and hanging around with my French – and not so French – friends, I have been hankering for a part time job at a local library.
Our library is currently being built into a megaplex book heaven and I’ve been wording up the librarians I know to try and score an “in”. However, as I’m not a qualified librarian nor do they know my background in online and communities, I think they may think I’m some kind of kook who is constantly hassling them.
“Oh there’s that woman again! Hide!”
A second idea rattling through my head is going to get my Responsible Serving of Alcohol and Barista Course under my belt so I can pick up some odd jobs waiting at local cafes and restaurants. The only thing I’m afraid of is that customer service is not my forte. Also the idea of doing online learning again for this is enough to put me off. Never again. NO MORE CLICK NEXT LEARNING!
However, working in a cafe for some hours every week will be enough to get me to have my social element sorted. The cit chat with the patrons.
However a third thing floating around in my mind and something that was inspired by my dear friend Mary (before she passed away, we were working on a filming project together) was she encouraged me to look into sites like Star Now and put my name down to be an extra or do some acting for people looking for talent.
I’ve had some experiences working in film teams and I’ve loved them. So maybe there’s an opportunity for me to act my age – or even to model. I could be the advert for incontinence pads for all I care because I’m sure they’ll need people my age too.
Over the weekend, I created my profile on Star Now. I’ll also look into what I need to get onto the books of local acting agencies too to help as an extra. I’d quite happily do something like this – albeit may be hanging around all day and a pittance but I could take my books and knitting with me. Alternatively just watch what they do behind the scenes which I love.
Besides I loved my time playing Shazza Breaknews for CNT Newschannel for a couple of years. Maybe it’s time to get serious about it? Here’s a clip I created from our back yard and garage about Hostile Environment Training for Foreign Correspondents
I’ll have to figure out what to do with my next phase in my life. Something that sparks the creative juices !
This looks like it might be the ticket as it’s not mentally taxing and a bit of fun.
Let’s see.
It’s interesting how a lot of the trouble is with the phrase “in retirement” – retirement from what? As freelancers, or even people who have had lots of different jobs, it is very different from the old days when you’d sign up for a lifetime with one company and then stop. I was talking to a friend in Geneva this morning who was facing the same issues of feeling disillusioned with what he’s been doing, wondering what’s next, and disinclined to panic about the time it is taking for an anwer to emerge!
Yes true it is confusing when you put it like this. When I was a freelancer, my business tanked. I gave 4 years before I realised it wasn’t working. I was going backwards. It was a struggle to find people to pay for my services. After having close to 20 proposals consecutively rejected, I thought “this is it, I can’t do this”. It was the realisation that what was going out was more than what was going in.
I then decided to get back into working for someone else but only a few days a week which was great. I should have done this years ago. It offered best of both worlds and I was enjoying the work.
Now, post lockdowns, I still like the freedom that I have and count myself as quite lucky to have these. If I really think about it, I think it is a question of identity, a little bit about control and a whole lot of fear of the first step.
I know that everything will be alright (it usually is because we deal with things as they arise). For me, I’ve just always planned for an early retirement from formal work where there is a contract in place between you and an employer. I planned 55 to be “the number” for many years now. As I’m heading towards that number now, the anxiety is looming ahead because geez, it came by so quickly!