Shampoo and a Meaningful Life

The end of the year is a natural time for reflection. It has been a year since I retired and this coming year I will turn 60. When I look back at my first year as a retired person, I realize that I haven’t accomplished anything. Retirement has posed some unique challenges. There is nothing standing in the way of my doing anything…but what I am doing is nothing. I can no longer say I don’t have the time. I don’t have any excuses for not living what Oprah would call “my best life.” My problem is, there really isn’t anything I want to do. There is nothing in my life that can’t be done tomorrow…so I have chosen to do nothing. And that isn’t a very rewarding way to live. So with the new year approaching, I will make some changes. The blog is my first commitment to myself. I will learn how to manage a blog and will document my search to find my way to meaningful activity.

Last year, soon after I retired, I noticed that the huge bottle of shampoo from Costco appeared to be almost gone. I remember thinking that it was another big change in my life…no longer working after 30 years of responsibility and finally getting to the end of that giant bottle. It’s a year later and the shampoo bottle still isn’t empty. I swear I wash my hair almost every day! I’m still showering everyday with the same old shampoo…but once I was showered, I didn’t have anywhere I needed to go. I’m buying new shampoo tomorrow and I’m going to start figuring out what I’m supposed to be doing now that I’m retired.