You wrote about this a while back and I remember how much I liked it. Retirement was such a shock to me because Covid forced it sooner than I expected in ‘20.
I had sort of a concurrent experience with the process. The ‘long goodbye’ lasted 10 or 12 months but found myself in the uncertainty of the ‘messy middle’ and naturally trying to resolve that discomfort by testing ideas for the ‘new beginning’. Funny process! I’ve come a long way in 3 years.
A few weeks ago I was also forced into retirement earlier than I expected due to an illness that I have still not shaken. In between filing paperwork related to that, I am preparing to downsize and packing books to donate back to the local library's used bookstore where I bought many of them. Today I picked up Walking the Bible which I had on my bookshelf for a couple of years and very sporadically would read a few pages and always say I will definitely read this when I have more time. I read about 50 or so pages today in the middle of the book because I thought I'll start wherever the book falls open. Had to stop when you were just arriving at St. Catherine's. Will continue to read through it as often as possible until completed. After I put it down I decided to look for information about you on the internet. I have a paperback first edition from 2001 and never heard of you before.
I will definitely seek out your other books, especially the one about transitions that your Substack article is about. Best wishes to you and your family and glad to have discovered your work!
Thank you so much!
You wrote about this a while back and I remember how much I liked it. Retirement was such a shock to me because Covid forced it sooner than I expected in ‘20.
I had sort of a concurrent experience with the process. The ‘long goodbye’ lasted 10 or 12 months but found myself in the uncertainty of the ‘messy middle’ and naturally trying to resolve that discomfort by testing ideas for the ‘new beginning’. Funny process! I’ve come a long way in 3 years.
A few weeks ago I was also forced into retirement earlier than I expected due to an illness that I have still not shaken. In between filing paperwork related to that, I am preparing to downsize and packing books to donate back to the local library's used bookstore where I bought many of them. Today I picked up Walking the Bible which I had on my bookshelf for a couple of years and very sporadically would read a few pages and always say I will definitely read this when I have more time. I read about 50 or so pages today in the middle of the book because I thought I'll start wherever the book falls open. Had to stop when you were just arriving at St. Catherine's. Will continue to read through it as often as possible until completed. After I put it down I decided to look for information about you on the internet. I have a paperback first edition from 2001 and never heard of you before.
I will definitely seek out your other books, especially the one about transitions that your Substack article is about. Best wishes to you and your family and glad to have discovered your work!
Thank you very much. You will get through this time! I believe.