Productivity

As a woman who spent most of her adult professional working life in the corporate world, I thrive on being productive.

In 2020, I suddenly found myself completing my first year of retirement and spending most of 2020 on this crazy drive of helping the world deal with the shortage of PPE. Weeks went by where I was gathering material, cutting it out to sew masks, I even roped in my friends, from my church and community, who could sew. My husband would cut material from small, medium and large templates and stack the kits for masks and then cut all the elastic for the ears. About half way through the pandemic, medical personnel were required to where PPE that government was dispatching to all hospitals. The challenge for homemade PPE was no longer in crisis and the demand after 9 months fell to zero. We successfully put thousands of masks in Medical offices, Schools and other educational and medical facilities. Then it stopped. My retirement suddenly was staring me in the face and I wasn’t dealing well with all the excess time I had on my hands. The second year of the pandemic didn’t need me so now I had to find things to keep me busy. I made lap blankets for the older women who were staying home and not adventuring out of their homes, self-quarantined. We packaged all the care packages of lotions, candles and small lap blankets and the project was done. Once again, I am struggling with not having things to do to keep me busy. I have my embroidery machine, my sewing machine, my silhouette cutter and tons of paper crafting… yet I still feel like there is something I could be doing.

This year in 2022, I have started writing again. I have almost completed a 52 week workbook for a new Christian. Soon I will have the manuscript in print and be able to give to those with a young faith, something they can work on to go “On to Maturity”. Once it is finished, then it’s a matter of time before the need to be productive starts prodding me to keep moving forward. Retirement isn’t about not working, it’s about how to stay productive and still live a life that is fulfilling.

What a blessing it is to have all this time to not only bring value and purpose to others lives but also to my life. I will always be the example to others and my family on how important it is to stay engaged with the life we want to live, even in retirement. When I don’t have the energy or drive to work hard, then and only then, will I stop being productive and it will be in God’s timing.

It’s quite the phenomenon to be living as if you are still in your thirties and forties, in your mind at least, however, if your physical body it is your reality check. For the first time in your life, you know that there are limitations to what you can do in your sixties and seventies. Productivity is even more important to me these days. So its on to a year of writing, photography and adventure, with rest, relaxation and productivity thrown into the journey.

…up the road slowly.