Retirement Fine, Encountering and Meeting Challenges

A friend today asked me what I thought about retirement so far, and my answer was quick and unequivocal: I've yet to wish I hadn't retired. Not one instant.  Now suppose circumstances had dictated me having continued on with my postal job, the specific assignment of which focused on receiving, processing and dispatching registered mail that came in from area offices in the afternoon and early evening.  I performed that assignment from January 2019 through November 2024...nearly six years.  In the middle of it all COVID happened, as well as my open heart surgery.  Melissa and I both came down with COVID in July 2023...it wiped out my summer vacation but we both recovered well from it. My son Will tragically passed away in July 2024, and Melissa experienced the trauma associated with breast cancer while receiving excellent medical care. The month following my retirement, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and events were set into motion leading to my March prostatectomy this year.  I have yet to physically feel the direct effects of illness, although my medical treatment...the surgeries in particular...hampered my activity and forced me through some brief seasons of pain.  I'm still getting cancer treatment, so it's a matter of me showing up for each day in a positive, constructive way to engage in exercise and keep my mind active.  Since my country collectively decided last November at the polls to go full-bore fascist and idolize a 34-count convicted felon, I had found myself exposed to the abuse associated with abusive national leadership...and that abuse is continuing.  I have decided, though, to avoid acknowledging its significance in my life and have been cleaning up my social media accounts from sites and posts that only aggravate the situation, instead stressing areas that are more conducive to my mental and physical well-being. I have already vowed to myself not to allow drama and manipulation to govern my daily existence, instead creating my own structure of personal discipline that keeps me strong with a positive outlook. I'm hoping that you're faring well in your own life, and that you don't see yourself as just a passive victim of circumstances but rather have a great deal of responsible control over how your own day goes.  And I mean each and every day...         

Motivational Coach Rob Dial Broadly Discusses Addiction on His Podcast

On one of his Mindset Mentor podcasts last week, life coach/motivational guru Rob Dial brought up the topic of addiction, explaining what he believes are its causes.  Dial takes a broad view of addiction, stating that most of us are addicted to something, not necessarily drugs (including alcohol and nicotine).  His examination takes us to our dual nervous system, split between the sympathetic that assumes dominance during high alert, fight-or-flight situations and the parasympathetic that plays the role of conserve and restore...the former involves tension with higher heart rate and the latter a more relaxed state.  When someone is addicted to something, they usually are trying to take a shortcut from being in the agitated, sympathetic state into the more agreeable parasympathetic...Dial refers to this process as "numbing".  He brings up that some who claim not to be dependent on alcohol still will take a drink or two at night to "take the edge off"...but what is the "edge" anyway and wouldn't it be better to find the cause and eliminate it up front?  Anything that one does to switch states...and this often involves running from ongoing problems instead of facing them...can be an addiction, and this includes excessive social media, television, binge eating, sex and even physical training workouts.  Rob Dial suggests that we take some time to just sit without distractions and do nothing, letting our own mind bring up the issues we have been covering up through other activities.  There's a book I just finished reading by James Clear titled Atomic Habits...it addresses addiction as well and suggests that the social and physical environment surrounding oneself can play a major role in its onset and perpetuation...as well as its elimination... 

Quote of the Week...from Morris West

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine.

                                                                            ---Morris West

Morris West (1916-99) was an Australian writer who put out a number of popular and critically-acclaimed novels, usually focusing on politics and religion.  Not that you need to be such a writer yourself or even interested in his areas of concern to understand and embrace his above quote.  As humans with functional brains, we will fill the conscious hours we have with thoughts of one kind or another...and to an extent we can control where to direct those thoughts.  Some people I know...as well as the previous president...spend an enormous percentage of their existence thinking about themselves: these are commonly called "narcissists".  Others are in the habit of repeatedly playing tapes in their minds about past offenses, losses or failures...or obsess on their old "glory days" that have long passed by.  Still others are present-focused, but train their thoughts on specific goals and actions in front of them...we all do that to an extent and need to as responsible adults.  And some people spend their time worrying about the future beyond the things they can personally control...what a waste of the precious and transitory gift of life!  There is a concept floating around called "mindfulness" that can, like with anything else, get muddled down with rules. But as I see it, its essence is for us at times to interrupt our habitual thought trains...including that pointless worry...with simply stopping, looking around, and appreciating what we have now in front of us.  When I was a youngster, I would go with my sister and parents to the local grocery store.  As we would  make our way up and down each aisle, I remember noticing the different decorations and pictures on the wall.  I could do this because my mind did not have the burdens of responsibility that my parents did, as they were focused on the items on their list...among whatever tapes they had going on in their own minds at the time.  Nowadays, I couldn't begin to describe my own favorite grocery store that I have been going to for decades...other than its functional layout of goods, registers, departments, and restrooms which corresponded solely to my purposeful actions.  I'm not saying that we shouldn't be responsible adults and just let everything slide in favor of aimless contemplation, but a little of the latter mixed into our lives can go far to interrupt the destructive mental habits we often engage in. Going out on walks and jogs often provides me with the chance to get out of myself and observe and appreciate the world around me.  And turning off the TV with its doomsday news channels and simply sitting in a chair on the back or front porch carries similar benefits...