Freedom is Not Something You Have to Find
And it is not just another word for nothing left to lose
Yesterday, while reading posts on one of the retiree Facebook pages that I follow, I saw the following:
One wonderful thing I have learned in my 6 weeks since retiring is that I don’t have to be busy every minute of every day. I love the freedom of being able to choose how I spend my days!
Posts about the difficulty in adjusting to retirement are relatively frequent. But the first response struck me and was the seed for this article. The first respondent stated:
I have not found that freedom. I talk about it but still feel the need to keep busy. In my defense there is a lot that can be accomplished outside in the summer with yard work and home upkeep. I’m sure I’ll come to that point though. I’m only 8 weeks retired.
What struck me was that this fairly common response from retired people. The more I thought about it, the more important writing about this article seemed.
It hit me that most people misunderstand the concept of freedom.
Freedom is Not Just Another Word
In her song Me and Bobby McGee Janis Joplin sings the following words:
