Stepping Back

Retirement: a time for relaxation and travel, right? Not quite for me. On December 18, 2020, I retired (insert air quotes here) but then immediately embarked on a new endeavour - wriiting a book. I am not sure if I had known at the time how hard this would be, or that it was going to turn into an all-encompassing new direction, that I would have made that decision. I have definitely struggled to balance my passion projects with relaxation.

Although I had retired, I continued to work on a couple of projects, which in hindsight was fortunate, in that the income from this work paid for my expensive writing hobby. As a self-published author I bear all the costs and until I have a greater body of work I don’t expect to be able to break even.

Anyway, rather than stepping back and having some time for myself, I found myself just as busy as I had been with a full time job.

Many people start the New Year with a reflection and resetting of goals or making a new years resolution. I set some goals early in the year and now as we come to the end of the first half of the year, I think it is time to check in with myself.

I consider personal reflection to be such an important way to continuously improve. A quote by an unknown person goes something like this

‘Reflection is looking back so that the view looking forward is even clearer’

One of my resolutions was not to take on any additional work. That goal has not been achieved. I was asked to do some mentoring work which I really enjoy. At least that will pay for my third book.

In reality, I have been checking in with myself on a fairly regular basis. On one of those occasions, back in April, I asked myself why I was still getting up to write at 5:30am. I had discovered that I actually could write later in the day if I put my mind to it, so I decided on a gentler start to the day. I now favour a cup of coffee in bed with a good book before my morning walk.

How am I going with my other goals? I aimed to have my current work in progress to the editor in May/June. I nearly made it as it will go to my editor on 1 July. I also want to do some more work on other manuscript which is a memoir of sorts, about how I became an independently published author. I have 20,000 words so far and am looking forward to getting back to it whilst my current manuscript is with the editor.

But this post started off being about stepping back, taking it a bit easier. That is still a major goal that I am working towards. I will focus on writing, but am planning to not try to do all the things. I have been reading more which brings me joy. I will continue my monthly newsletter and blog post but I am only posting on social media when I have something I really want to say.

I would love to hear about your goals and how you are progressing. How often do you review your goals?

Please post your comments below.