Taking Stock

It is hard for me to believe, but three years have passed since I entered a new chapter of my life---“retirement” or more accurately, the Encore Phase. In my Blog post of January 2013, I had outlined what I thought I would do in this phase. Three years into it, I thought it would be a good time to take a stock of what I was thinking of doing and how things have actually turned out.

I had based my plan according to my thinking of leading a well balanced life that consisted of spending time in each of four quadrants, two related to intellectual activities and two, physical. I had, somewhat crudely titled them as left-brain activities, right-brain activities, low-energy activities and high-energy activities. (See my Blog Post of November 2012 for a detailed description of these quadrants.)

I realized that there are two additional segments that need to be included in order to lead a fulfilling life. I call them Family support activities and Giving back activities. These somewhat inelegant descriptors contain what you need to do to nourish the emotional aspect of being a human. I am avoiding using the term “spiritual” because I m not sure what that means if you are not a religious person and do not believe in god.

So the version 2 of the Well-Balanced Life diagram looks like this:Now, these segments are not mutually exclusive. For example, Travel would be a high-energy activity that includes gastronomy. An intellectual activity, such as pro-bono consulting, constitutes Giving back to the society.

So, where am I at in these segments?

Starting from bottom, the low-energy activities, I have not made much progress on the gastronomy side. I still have no interest in cooking and very little in fine cuisine. I am learning about different bourbons, partly thanks to my younger family members, but one needs to be careful in controlling this activity--- I see many retirees become too fond of drinking. My TV watching has not gone up substantially nor do I go to see movies more than I used to. I have not taken up watching sports. So, overall, retirement has not made that much of a difference in this segment of activities.

Moving on to the high-energy activities, we both try to remain fit. I perhaps go to the health club more than I used to. Besides the health benefits, the club provides a place to go to in order to prevent cabin fever, especially during the winter months. We continue to bike and ski, but have been slowing down on the hiking front. We have not done our three day hut-to-hut hike in the past three years, partly because of restrictions placed on what we can do while taking care of my aging father. Also, we have not gone on any trek in the past three years. But, we have travelled quite a bit, especially Central/South America and Europe, and gone on a couple of biking vacations. In addition, my list of extreme travels is now done, having been to the “Northernmost point I can (without spending a fortune)”---Svalbard in Norway at 80 degree Latitude.

I have generally done well on the left-brain activity segment. I am involved with providing pro-bono management consulting to non-profits in the Boston area through an organization called Executive Service Corps (ESC). I have completed two assignments, both for conservancies preserving green space in and around Boston. Now, I am helping an organization devoted to providing housing and services to folks with developmental disabilities---a very satisfying activity. I also devote time going through courses offered by “The Great Courses” company. These are in a wide variety of subjects in physics, biology, history, anthropology, and so on. Finally, through a program offered by the Northeastern University, I am volunteering in a middle school in a low-income community, helping science teachers teach biology through experiments.  This is forcing me to learn biology, not an area of my professional career. Finally, I have continued to write my Blog. This forces me to think about various subjects in a rational way.

I have spent a lot of time focusing on the right-brain activities, primarily photography. I have learned a lot and improved quite a bit from three years ago. Encouraged by comments from fellow photographers (both in Camera Clubs and on Flickr) as well as friends/family members, I keep on experimenting with different techniques and subjects. I have won a Grand Prize (first out of 800 entries) in a photography competition, and been on Flickr Explore gallery numerous times. In this gallery, Flickr exhibits 500 pictures out of 8.6 million submitted daily. My progress in photography is way beyond I was planning to do or hoping to achieve.

I was also planning to learn how to play piano, and I have yet to do that. However, I have spent a lot of time on learning the fine points of Western Classical Music, primarily through the Great Courses, and have felt confident enough to write a document describing this type of music to an Indian audience. I have made some progress on appreciating other types of Western music, and have great support from my son in law who is a music journalist, but I can’t say I have gotten too far.

Moving on, the additional two segments, I (we) have derived a great deal of satisfaction from taking care of my aging father. This emotionally satisfying activity extracts a price---there are restrictions placed on other activities. On the other hand, we are doing our duty.

Finally, I am giving back to the society to the best of my ability. Not having an enormous fortune to spend on philanthropy, my contribution comes in form of mentoring and volunteering. If my pro-bono consulting can improve efficiency and effectiveness of a non-profit, there will be many beneficiaries.   If my assistance in teaching science can excite even one student toward this subject, and make him/her a doctor, scientist or an engineer, I would have given back.

So, in summary, I am generally pleased the way things have turned out. I have not had one day when I did not know what I should do. As my wife continues to work almost full-time, a great deal of time I am alone or with my father whose ability to communicate has gone down substantially. Having thought through and planned on what to do during those times have helped me not feel lonely or worse---depressed.