Thoughts on Retirement

I read with interest a blogpost by Lori Deschene - Tiny Wisdom: Taking Things Away 
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” -Socrates

Sometimes creating peace, happiness, or satisfaction has everything to do with what we choose to take away.

You can love the work you do, but if you overextend yourself, even the greatest passion can start to feel stressful and overwhelming.

You can adore your significant other, but if you spend all your time together, you’ll likely start to appreciate your relationship less and wonder what else there is.

You can value your spiritual practice, but if your life becomes all about contemplation and self-reflection, you may start to feel somewhat removed from other people and the physical world.

There are definitely times when need to do more; but sometimes the best thing we can do is scale back on what we’re already doing, create a better sense of balance and space to just be, and then see how we feel.

I’m not suggesting we should all take a hiatus from our lives, a la Eat, Pray, Love; I’m proposing that sometimes the answer has nothing to do with more and everything to do with less.

I guess that kind of sums up the state I've been in the last couple of years and what lead me to selling Carolina Creations. Michael being sick and then dying was the final straw. I realized I couldn't do it all anymore. 

So I decided it was time to retire and take away some of the stress. 

It doesn't really seem right to call what I'm doing retirement because I'm busy working every day - but working in my studio doing my artwork instead of advertising, bookkeeping, searching for new work for the gallery, waiting on our wonderful customers, etc. Right now I'm still trying to get caught up on my commissions but I'm looking forward to doing some of the paintings, sculpture, and pottery I've been wanting to do for a long time.

I haven't been home long enough to really get into the groove but I'm looking forward to it!