May 2017 – Terri LaBonte- Reinventing Myself in Retirement

The Long Haul

It has now been over nine months since my mother’s stroke. We’ve experienced several seasons of her prognosis. I’ve felt that each season has required a different response from me.

When my mother first had the stroke, I stepped into the war zone of my emotions, trying to be ever present and functional as medical staff triaged her towards “survival.” This season lasted only a day or two.

During the next season, my mother worked hard at rehabbing. The goal was for her to improve from “precarious existence” to “some truncated version of independent living.” During that time, I rabbitted around doing, doing, and doing. My focus was on doing all the administrative things to keep her life on hold and making sure nothing fell through the cracks so there was nothing to distract my mom from just getting better. I also invested my efforts in being her cheerleader and motivator. I concentrated on trying to share the rehab process with her, as if my doing the exercises with her could somehow take part of the yoke from her shoulders. I also tried desperately to provide some sort of normalcy and memory of what “real life” was like. I remember regularly pushing her wheelchair around the rehab facility in the hot, humid Florida weather. My goal for that little adventure in exhaustion and dehydration was to remind her how much she enjoyed just being out of doors. I wanted to show her that she could still enjoy some of her favorite things about living.

I think my mother knew before I did that things were not going to work out in the way I wanted. The season changed. It became darker and bleaker. The rehab wasn’t working. My mother’s life got smaller instead of larger as she kept struggling with the physical and occupational therapy. As her life got smaller, so did the number of life experiences she could still enjoy. She became so, so weary. She declined physically and emotionally. We seemed to have entered a season of good-bye. The hospice people believed she would pass quietly within a few days or weeks.

When someone you love is in their last days or weeks, everything in life changes. My life became all about her. During this short-term season, I spent much of my time just being with her at the hospice center. We didn’t talk much. We didn’t really do anything. I was just there. She ate almost nothing. She slept a lot. I think she was just worn out from the months of battling to make progress in rehab and from the emotional effort it took her to accept her reality and decide to just let things be. I did nothing to keep my life running that didn’t absolutely have to be done. I didn’t make much progress on the tasks needed to manage the financial side of my mother’s life either. Anything that wasn’t boiling over got pushed to the back burner, including my own feelings.

Once my mother had this opportunity to rest her weary body and soul, she stabilized and the season changed again. While it was clear she was never going to get better, it appeared that she would survive beyond the short term… whatever that might be. She was still journeying rather purposefully towards the end of life, but she was traveling at a languid pace. Sometimes, I think that pace has slowed for a reason. This new season has given her time to look at the totality of her life in a clearer, less confused way than she could during the rehab or hospice seasons. It has given us both the chance to reconnect in a more meaningful way. Whatever the reason for the slower pace, it is her pace and it needs to be what it is.

Now, we seem to be managing her illness and journey towards her end of life for the “long haul,” if one can speak of the journey towards the end of life as the “long haul.” The response must change. My role in this season has been to suggest and implement ways to make her memories and connections more satisfying and concrete. I’ve bought laptop computers and portable DVD players to show her family pictures and videos. I’ve suggested particular movies and television shows for us to watch together that have meant something to us in the past. I call and face time my brother regularly from her nursing home room so that they can interact I’ve kept up with her friends in California, which results in those folks sending her emails and cards.

I have to acknowledge, though, that it is no longer possible for me to react in the same way I did while my mother was at the hospice house. All those practical and logistical tasks that I postponed during that sad, strange short haul have to be dealt with at some point. I must invest some time and energy in other relationships, if I want those relationships to survive the long haul of my mother’s decline. I have to feel the feelings that I pushed to the back burner when the only thing that mattered was my mother’s comfort. I need to take time for myself to replenish the reserves of strength that I’ve been depleting over the past nine months. Over the long haul, my life has to be about more than watching my mother come to the end of hers.

I struggle with how to prioritize and balance over the long haul. I’m confident that my mother likes it when I live in a world outside her narrow one. She enjoys the pictures and stories I bring back to her after my “day off” each week. It is still pretty excruciating to leave her, for a lot of reasons. It is still exhausting to conduct my life with the extra layer of hurt over my shoulders that doesn’t ever really disappear. In some ways, of course, the short haul season was more difficult because it was so dark and intense and lonely. The long haul has been lighter and more purposeful. On the other hand, the long haul is just so relentless. I am so aware that I have no idea how much longer this way of life will continue. I have no idea how much longer I will be rearranging my days to visit the nursing home during my mother’s “sweet spot” of alertness. I have no idea how many more days I will have to do what needs to be done to manage her affairs. I have no idea when I will run out of strategies to keep her engaged. I have no idea how long I can handle the grief. I have no idea what is ahead and how far ahead it is, except that the situation is likely only to get worse. As difficult as the “now” is and as difficult as it is to journey this path with my mother, it hits me in the gut that the day is coming when I won’t be traveling with my mother anymore. That reality sneaks up on me from a dark, cold corner of my brain on a regular basis. I am terrified of what it will feel like when it happens.

Sometimes I think I cannot face all the sorrow and fear one more day. Then I realize, I don’t have to face it for one more day. Right here, right now, I only have to do it today. I do much better when I keep my eyes and heart focused directly in the present. I can go to the nursing home today. I can think of ways, however small, to make my mother happier today. I can handle seeing her pain today. I can avoid experiencing the pain associated with my mother’s eventual death today.

What is the answer to handling the stress of everything related to my mother’s illness over the long haul? The short haul.

What do you think? How does a person balance the needs of oneself with the needs of others? Please share your perspective by leaving a comment. In the alternative, you can email me at terriretirement@gmail.com.

Have safe travels today!

Terri 🙂

PS For those of you who read last week’s post, I wanted to provide an update. Last Thursday, when I was walking into the nursing facility, I noticed that the warped places in the pavement are now covered by cement structures that look like speed bumps. Apparently, my nice gardener guy did more than just help me up and clean up my mess. I’m glad they fixed the problem!

The Stealthfulness Of Grief

Nobody tells you how sneaky grief is.

For the first five months or so after my mom’s stroke, I rode the emotional roller coaster all the time. It was understandable. So much was happening and changing on an hourly basis. Of course my emotional reactions fluctuated.

After about five months, my mother’s condition plateaued. She was not improving, but neither was she undergoing stressful medical procedures. I got her settled in the nursing facility. I resolved the financial side of things. I sold her mobile home. Once her status quo seemed to be pretty stable, I thought I might be able to begin to stabilize myself and start learning to cope with my own feelings.

For the most part, I thought I was doing pretty well. I was figuring out how to accept the new reality. I was even starting to carve out a “mini life” for myself. I was regularly spending some time without being engulfed in my mother’s condition and care. None of it was easy. I certainly can’t say I was truly “okay,” but I felt I was gradually repairing my shattered psyche. Both my mother and I seem to be living in the now with a little more good grace and good cheer. Our relationship is certainly not what it was in the pre-stroke days, but we are starting to find our footing in our new one. We both seem to be recognizing each other again and are acting more like ourselves. Things are far from “okay,” but, for right now, they are better than I can expect. So there is every reason for me to put on my big girl panties and get on with life.

Still, every now and again, I am just floored by sadness. There isn’t even necessarily a reason or a trigger I can identify. I’m fine… and then I’m not.

The other day, I was walking up to the door of the nursing facility. I was carrying my purse, a case containing a portable DVD player that I bring to show my mom home movies, and a milkshake. I don’t quite know how it happened, but I tripped on a warped place in the pavement. I might have been trying a new technique for long-jumping, except that I think you are supposed to land on your butt when long jumping, not forward onto your face. It was as if I really believed I was Tinker Bell and had sprouted wings. News flash- I had not.

Luckily, I didn’t really hurt myself. As I lay on the sidewalk, stunned, all I could think about was the milkshake that was now spilled all over the cement and the DVD player that might have been much more disabled by the fall than I was. For some reason, that milkshake spill just demoralized me beyond almost anything I’ve experienced in life. I felt so defeated that I kind of just wanted to lie there and hope the world would end. It was a weird sensation of knowing that I was reacting beyond all rational thought but not caring.

I knew the reaction wasn’t really about the milkshake. It wasn’t about the DVD player (which, remarkably, was unharmed by its flight). It wasn’t even about the fall. It was the same old grief and stress that I thought I was conquering. The reaction was about the fact that my mother is so compromised and I can’t fix it. I thought I was coming to terms with that reality, but the sadness came crashing back out of nowhere.

A very nice gardener guy helped me to my feet. I stared at the mess I had left in my wake. The gardener guy asked if I was all right and I said, “yes, but the milkshake is all over the ground and it is ruined. Besides, there will be bees and people might slip on it.” The gardener guy looked at me strangely and mumbled some sort of embarrassed response. Still a little in shock, I made my way into the facility and into my mother’s room, where I greeted her sans milkshake. I burst into tears when I saw her, apologizing profusely for the lack of ice cream. I think I kind of alarmed her. She kept telling me to go home but I wouldn’t. I didn’t want the fall to win.

When I did leave the nursing home, still feeling unspeakably sad, I noticed the milkshake mess was mysteriously gone. I am sure that my nice gardener guy cleaned it up for me. Thank you, nice gardener guy.

I read somewhere that sometimes you don’t have to get over things; you just have to get through them. Maybe the “getting through them” isn’t always by a straight path.

Has grief ever “snuck up” on you? How do you cope? Please share your perspective by leaving a comment. In the alternative, you can email me at terriretirement@gmail.com.

Have a thoughtful day!

Terri 🙂

School Of Dolphins

Yes, I know that dolphins travel in pods, not schools. However, that doesn’t mean that the dolphins don’t have a thing or two to teach us. I learned a lot from my day swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove. The dolphin experience especially taught me several important things about how to best use the time of our lives. Here are some of the lessons I learned from my new merry marine mammal friends.

Make the most of your time.

A few years ago, I nagged a friend of mine to participate in a dolphin encounter in Hawaii. We didn’t exactly “swim” with the dolphins. It was more like “wading with the dolphins” because we kind of wimped out and took the encounter option that didn’t involve any deep-water interaction. I can swim and have been swimming since I was a very little girl. On the other hand, I was sort of anxious because I didn’t know how competent one needed to be in the water or how far I’d have to swim or how long it would take me to cover the ground I’d need to cover to do the deep-water swim. My friend and I had a wonderful, soul-lightening time on our “dolphin wading” encounter, but I still couldn’t help but feel that I was missing out on something.

The Discovery Cove experience did include a deep-water swim with the dolphin. Part of my hesitation in deciding to go was the same anxiety that I wasn’t a good enough swimmer, but I decided to throw caution to the wind. As I was standing in the water waiting for my turn at the swim, I confess to feeling a bit nervous. I am a self-professed proponent of carefully controlled adventure. I’d rather have artificial adventure than risk the dangers of the real thing.

I believe that litigation potential is a fairly effective vetting tool to determine if something is reasonably safe. I figure, if an organization is big enough and has deep enough pockets to get sued in the event of disaster, I’m probably going to come out of whatever adventure simulation they provide in one piece. Since Discovery Cove has been operating for over fifteen years and has not been felled by ruinous lawsuits, I figured I’d probably be okay.

I did believe our dolphin, Kaolani, was probably not going to attack. On the other hand, I still did not know what level of swimming competency was going to be required to keep up with the dolphin. All the trainers kept saying that if you had to ask if you’d need a life jacket, you probably shouldn’t be doing the deep-water swim. They offered a shallow water swim as an alternative. I kept thinking about it, even when I was out in the water. No one else was asking for the shallow water swim. I didn’t want to miss anything, especially after self-limiting my earlier dolphin encounter in Hawaii. There was a bitsy little girl in our group whose toes barely reached the bottom of the shallow part of the water. She opted for the deep-water swim. I decided that, if she could do it, so could I. As it turned out, I just had to swim about eight feet and tread water for a few minutes. I held on to Kaolani’s flippers and dolphin-surfed my way back to the shore. And I didn’t drown.

Once I had my dolphin encounter, I resolved to stop limiting myself. I stopped worrying about what I looked like or whether I could do something. It was incredibly freeing. I did everything the park had to offer. I felt like a kid again. But a more self-confident kid than the kid I actually was once upon a time.

Let It Flow.

It may seem almost contradictory to my lesson about making the most of time, but I think it is more of a corollary than a contradiction. I learned that nothing terribly bad happens if you stop worrying about what an experience is supposed to be like and what you are supposed to do to maximize your time. Sometimes, it is best to just let a day of exploration unfold as it is going to and react as you want to in the moment.

Before I went to Discovery Cove, I had this huge need to understand how everything worked. I had so many questions about the minutia of the operation! Here are some of the queries that ran through my head:

How good a swimmer must you be to enjoy the dolphin experience? (just barely competent)
Where were the lockers in relation to the activities? (all over the place and you could easily appropriate more than one locker if it was more convenient)
Is there a preferred order in which to experience the attractions or maximize your time? (I don’t really think so- I felt like I could do all the attractions without prioritizing) How easy was it to get to the lockers periodically during the day? (phenomenally easy)
How did you know when to go to the dolphin encounter? (they gave you the time and location when you checked into the park)
How did you get reapplication of sunscreen? (there were stations all over the place)
Where were the food stations? (again, all over the place)
Since I eat like a four-year-old, what was there to eat? (a wide variety of sweet and savory offerings)
Did you need to bring money for incidentals? (not really, although I never feel comfortable leaving the house without some money so I kept $40 in the locker and never took it out)
Should I bring a hat? (yes, but know it will get drenched going under the waterfalls interspersed on the lazy river)
Were there private showers and dressing areas? (yes)
Would the required wetsuit vests fit me? (yes)
Would I look awkward or funny doing the experiences? (maybe, but nobody cared)

I could go on and on, but I think I already have. The Discovery Cove website gave a lot of information, but I found that it was just enough to inspire my brain to craft new questions.

Once I was in the park for half an hour or so, I relaxed considerably and stopped worrying about “doing it right.” I just meandered and did what I wanted when I wanted. I did it right, without even trying.

She Who Travels Fastest Travels Alone.

I really wasn’t thinking so much about traveling fast through Discovery Cove, but I do think that I probably traveled better alone.

One of my other hesitations in booking my day at Discovery Cove was that I’d be going by myself because Max doesn’t do water recreation. The idea of him paying the high admission price to simply trail along behind me, take pictures, and consume all-you-can-eat hot pretzels all day seemed ludicrous.

Before I met Max, I did a lot of things by myself. After my divorce in 1988, I was single for many years. I learned very quickly that, if I really wanted to do something or go somewhere, I should do it by myself rather than wait for a time when someone else might join me. It was nice when I did things with dates or with friends, but I really had no problem having adventures on my own.

After Max and I met, I became very used to having a partner on my experiences. It was really nice to share our recreation and perspectives. Once he moved in with me, I almost never did anything fun on my own. I didn’t mind at all. He doubled my enjoyment of these activities. On the other hand, I found I was starting to lose my self-reliance in the fun arena.

When I first made the reservation, a day on my own at Discovery Cove sounded appealing. I could please only myself and wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else’s needs or desires. As the time approached, however, I started to feel a little bereft about being without Max while I had this new experience.

It turned out that Discovery Cove is a great place to have fun, with or without other people. I pretty much tuned out everyone else and did exactly what I wanted to do. To be clear, Max would have been fine paying his money and watching me have a good time. One of his favorite recreational activities is watching me do stuff he wouldn’t do, like feeding animals in a petting zoo or bouncing around in a swimming pool. It bothers me, though, to know he is waiting for me. Since Max doesn’t do water activities, I am sure I would have worried about him being bored while I cavorted in the deep. Without him, I was free to return to a second and third time snorkeling on the reef. I could lie around doing nothing when I felt like it. I could eat and drink when it felt like the right time for me. Also, I could enjoy showing him pictures and telling him all about my day when I got home.

So, dolphins don’t travel in schools. They are good teachers, though, and I think I am going to try very hard to apply the lessons I learned at Discovery Cove to the rest of my life!

Have you ever learned a valuable life lesson while engaged in some seemingly inconsequential event, like my day with the dolphins? Please tell us about it. Please share your perspective by leaving a comment. In the alternative, you can email me at terriretirement@gmail.com.

Have a great day!

Terri

My Date With The Dolphins

I’ve never been very good at “once in a lifetime” experiences. One year, I booked a special “photo caravan” at a local wild animal park for an extravagant amount of money, believing it would be a “once in a lifetime” adventure. We ended up going back every year until we moved away from Southern California. The first time we visited Disney World, I sold it to Max as a “once in a lifetime” trip. We went back on vacation several times before I retired and ultimately ended up turning our whole “lifetime” on its head by actually moving to within an hour’s drive of this “once in a lifetime” destination. Now, we go about once a month.

A few years ago, I cajoled a good friend of mine to go with me on a dolphin encounter at Sea Life Park in Honolulu. She agreed with my exhortations that it would be a “once in a lifetime” experience. We had a wonderful time.

Given my track record and lack of credibility with the whole “once in a lifetime” thing, it should come as no surprise that I recently succumbed to temptation and spent a day at Discovery Cove.

Discovery Cove is an “all inclusive” day resort owned by Sea World. It is a reservation-only experience. They limit the number of people allowed in each day so that crowd-traumatized tourists can experience all the park has to offer without waiting in lines or fighting the masses for towels. To be honest, I think that limited capacity thing can be a pretty big draw for someone who has spent an entire vacation wedged between bodies and strollers waiting in line for the bathroom at Disney or Universal.

For one not-so-low (actually, a pretty darn high) price, a guest gets access to a lazy river, animal encounters, a simulated ocean snorkeling pool complete with artificial coral reef and assorted very real aquatic creatures, a wading stream that meanders past otters and marmosets, the most beautiful walk-through and float-through aviaries you have ever seen, and several beaches for relaxing. The price of admission also includes towels, lounge chairs, lockers, showers, dolphin-friendly sunscreen, all meals, snacks, soft drinks, beer, and wine. For a slightly higher admission fee, you can also swim with the dolphins- hence the need for dolphin-friendly sunscreen.

When I lived in Southern California, the Sea World park in San Diego had dolphin encounter opportunities for visitors. The encounters were limited to just a few people a day and were hugely expensive. Also, the facilities at Sea World are geared for animals being in the water and people being on dry land watching the animals. Their dolphin encounter seemed kind of awkward. It was sort of like the people swimming with the dolphins were on display as part of the exhibit. While 8 or 10 people donned wetsuits and waded into a small pool with a dolphin, other fully dressed park visitors stood by the side of the pool to watch. It just seemed a bit weird to me. Still, I was one of those passersby watching. In a way, despite the awkwardness and the logistical issues (like what did you do once the 20-minute dolphin experience was over and you were standing around in a sopping wet bathing suit for the rest of the day?), I was envious.

When I heard about Discovery Cove, I thought I might take the plunge. Literally. Still, I wrestled with the decision for a long time. It just seemed so frivolous and decadent. It is an expensive proposition. Finally, I decided to stop telling myself no. I made my reservation, including my dolphin swim. I spent the entire day indulging myself in Discovery. And loved every minute of it.

I arrived early. The staff scheduled me for the first dolphin encounter group of the day. I went to the breakfast buffet and wandered around the park a little bit until my marine mammal rendezvous. Then it was dolphin time! We spent some time touching and playing with our dolphin, Kaolani. Then, it was time for the swim. As I waited for my turn, I became more and more excited. I watched the other participants in delight, as Kaolani whooshed her way back to us, towing a grinning visitor in her wake. When it was my chance, I swam out to the trainer in the deeper section of the pool. I treaded water while watching Kaolani gracefully return from shore to take me on my ride. I grabbed her dorsal fin and left flipper and let her pull me through the water. I was dolphin surfing! It was fabulous. I felt like I was in a movie. I felt very accomplished and brave and free and sort of primal. There was something about the buoyancy and weightlessness of the experience that somehow lightened my heart, freeing it from much of the care and worry it has been hording.

After my dolphin dive, my first thought was that I could easily have done that all day long. My next thought was dismay because the dolphin encounter, which I expected to be the highlight of the day, was over. Now what?

What, indeed. Actually, a lot of what. I went to the reef experience next. Donning snorkel and mask (also included in the price of admission), I went exploring. I snorkeled with huge schools of silvery fish. I saw Doryfish the size of dinner plates. I reached out and touched stealthful rays. The massiveness of some of the rays amazed me. They were the size of shipwrecked chests of drawers on the bottom of the fake ocean. I swam up to the glass barrier separating the reef swimming area from the shark enclosure and watched the sharks feed beneath the surface of the water. As fish swelled around me, I couldn’t stop giggling underwater from sheer giddiness.

Next, I ambled over to the freshwater portion of the park. I waded down the oasis stream. I saw otters at play in the same river where I was playing, separated only by a glass partition. Next, I realized I was wading through a moat surrounding an island of monkeys… marmosets, to be exact. It was as if I had happened on a cloister of tiny nuns in their black and white habits as they scurried off to sing the Hours. Next, I picked up an industrial strength pool noodle and floated down the lazy river. As I drifted under waterfalls, I reveled in how much fun it was to feel the water crashing over me. I floated past exotic, beautiful, and curious birds in the aviaries. It was so relaxing, I went around a second time. I was glad I did. On my second pass through, some trainers appeared randomly on the side of the river with a couple of “animal ambassadors.” I interrupted my journey, got out of the river, and introduced myself to the anteater and kinkajou. For those of you who don’t know and don’t want to bother googling, a kinkajou is a small mammal that has the face of a pug puppy, the body of a weasel, and the tail of a monkey. She was very appealing for a creature made out of God’s spare parts!

I spent some time at Serenity Bay, the mouth of the lazy river. I lounged and sunned myself and observed people. I went back to the reef and snorkeled some more. I interspersed my trips into the depths with episodes on the shore in a lounge chair, reading and dreaming.

The service at Discovery Bay was remarkable. The shower, locker, and dressing facilities were practical and easily available all around the park. There were multiple stations to reapply sunscreen. There were plenty of lounge chairs located wherever I happened to decide to lounge. The staff was more than helpful. If you asked someone where something was, he or she not only told you, but walked you over to your destination. Staff members appeared at random intervals at different places in the park to offer tips on how to get the best interaction with the animals, answer questions about the creatures you were viewing, and share their “animal ambassadors.” The staff seemed less like theme park workers and more like delightful little surprises for your personal benefit. Throughout the day, I helped myself to meals, snacks, and drinks from the convenient kiosks distributed throughout the park.

When I finally decided to go peruse the merchandise in the souvenir shop, I was shocked to notice it was already after 4:00pm. It had been a wonderful day. What had originally seemed like a shockingly exorbitant price of admission now seemed a terrific value. It was truly a memorable “once in a lifetime” experience.

And we all know what that means for me.

Next week, I’ll tell you what I learned from my day at Discovery Cove. In the meantime, what do you think? Do you have any “once in a lifetime” experiences that turned into regular events? Please share your perspective by leaving a comment. In the alternative, you can email me at terriretirement@gmail.com.

Have a swimmingly good day!

Terri 🙂

Still Alive and Kicking

Based on the Holmes Rahe scale, I’m lucky I’m not dead yet. The Holmes Rahe stress scale is a list of 43 stressful life events that can contribute to illness. These stressors are not limited to negative events, but simply represent situations that typically cause change or a need for readjustment in a person’s life. They range from the relatively benign (experiencing a major holiday, for instance) to the more cataclysmic (such as the death of a spouse.) The scale assigns each event a weighted score and measures the combined score of all the identified life events a person experiences in a year. Psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe conducted a scientifically valid study that resulted in a correlation between life events, as measured by stress scale scores, and illness.

A score of over 300 indicates a significant risk of serious illness. Even before my mother’s stroke, my score was 344. In the year that included my retirement, the life events I’d experienced included but were not limited to: changing jobs twice, retiring, moving across country, changing my entire financial situation, and taking responsibility for my ailing mother’s care, along with a few other more garden variety stressful life events like Christmas and a vacation. And my elevated stress scale score doesn’t even include any events not included in the good doctors’ research… like selling a home, moving my mother 3000 miles across the country, or finding snakes in the garage.

Even with this empirical evidence to explain my feelings of stress, it still felt vaguely shameful to talk about that stress with family and friends. After all, I RETIRED. That should have been the end of my need for sympathy from them. Obviously, if I am no longer working, I must have nothing about which to feel stressed. It’s like I’ve lost my membership card to the Forever Frenzied Federation and am no longer entitled to vent about the frustrations and fears of my existence.

When I think back about what the pace of life was like before I retired, it does seem silly to even think about my post-retirement stressors, especially before my mother’s stroke. When I was working, I was constantly tossed and tousled by a hurricane at sea. I was always struggling against drowning. For some time after retirement, I waded at the edges of a still ocean. Sometimes, a wave lapped a little too high on my leg and my pants got wet. Certainly, not much comparison. Still, the events in the year after my retirement truly were significant in their own right. It would behoove me to pay attention to their impact, especially now that the cataclysm of my mother’s illness has caused a whole new type of storm in my world.

So, what do I do? Obviously, I can’t undo the life events and spread them out over a more reasonable time period. The damage is already done. But maybe it is time to stand still for a while. It is tempting, now, to invest any time and energy I can muster into pleasurable and fun activities. When I take a day off from visiting my mother in the nursing facility, I tend to want to go somewhere and do something to divert my attention. Running off in search of amusement whenever I have a spare moment may not be the healthiest strategy. I think the situation calls for a little boredom to quell my overactive nervous system and dilute the overabundance of stress hormones in my blood stream. Constant excitement, while entertaining, may not be all it is cracked up to be.

So let’s hear it for monotony! Sometimes it is better to lie down and yawn rather than to stand up and cheer.

Did any of you have a hard time responding to stress after you retired? Did it feel like you somehow weren’t “entitled” to feel stressed once you weren’t working? How did you cope with the situation? Please share your perspective by leaving a comment. In the alternative, you can email me at terriretirement@gmail.com.

Have a reasonably stress-free day!

Terri 🙂

PS I hope I didn’t throw anyone off by this early posting for the week. I have a date with a dolphin tomorrow and must be on my way very early, so I thought I’d post tonight and save some time in the morning. More about the dolphin day soon, I promise! In the meantime, I’ll be back to posting on the regular day next Wednesday.