Bless me, O Holy Blogfather, for I have sinned: it has been almost three months since my last post. However, permit me to say in my defence that, since this is a blog detailing my own personal quest for a life of true freedom, I think I can safely claim this lapse as part and parcel of the ethos I’m promoting, and therefore entirely in keeping with its spirit. So, on second thoughts, you can forget the blessing: thus absolved of guilt, I shall simply make my first post of this new year a brief update on my happily retired life so far.
Since quitting my job, discarding all notions of having a Career and moving from London to Hebden Bridge exactly five months ago, I have been doing a variety of things with my time: some paid, some unpaid. I have personally tried to make no distinction between these activities myself, for fear of falling back into the trap of regarding the Paid Activity as Work, and the Unpaid Activity as Play. And this would, of course, be completely missing the fundamental point of my retirement: that what I am doing is simply seeking Work that IS Play, thus transforming all of my time into “Leisure Time”. However, I am fully aware that those of you who are even remotely interested in the concept of achieving True Freedom before the age of 65 will naturally be most interested in those activities which are paid, since the practicalities of living in a capitalist society unfortunately mean that, for most of us, enjoying a life of early retirement significantly before the Officially Sanctioned Age requires that at least a proportion of the activities we fill our time with are paid (that is, unless we choose to live in a squat and grow all of our own food: a perfectly viable and extremely sensible option for those who are courageous – and organised – enough to do it). Therefore I shall, just for the moment, make the distiction between paid and unpaid activities, merely for the purpose of clarifying where the money to pay my rent and buy my food is coming from.
But that’s enough of that, onto the main point: what have I been doing with my retirement? Well, my paid hobbies presently include accompanying a student with muscular dystrophy to his classes at a local college in Leeds (this is great fun – I’ve met lots of new, interesting people, am learning some new skills, and greatly enjoying my expanded social circle!) Another current paid activity involves spending some time every week with a local DJ who has a brain injury: we do a variety of things with our time together, I help him manage some of the practical aspects of day-to-day life, he helps me to expand my knowledge of contemporary music with his enviable record collection, and we each get a lot from the deal! Presently I’m helping him to convert his basement into a home studio, and having a lot of fun doing it. Kat’s paid hobbies also currently include spending time helping out some people who live near us, two of whom both have brain injuries, and one who has multiple sclerosis. We both find these activities incredibly interesting and rewarding: we’ve made new friends out of them, and have been learning a lot in the process!
Unpaid hobbies presently include singing with the awesome local choir, Calder Valley Voices: we recently sang at a fantastic concert with Leon Rosselson, Martin Carthy and Janet Kerr, which was a huge success and lots of fun. We’re also increasing the amount of music-making we’re doing just for ourselves at home, playing instruments, singing together, expanding our repertoire of songs – I’m beginning to write some new material myself too! We’ve also been expanding our repertoire in the kitchen: Kat has subscribed to Good Food Magazine, and we’ve been trying our hand at making lots of exciting new dishes. And as for the garden – well, Kat and I did do a fantastic job of clearing and de-junglifying the space, but then things just got too cold and wet, and not being particularly fond of getting soaked to the skin in sub-zero temperatures, we’ve elected to leave the serious veg-growing until being out in the garden again becomes a pleasure rather than an exercise in stamina. (Growing as much of our own food as we can is still an important part of The Plan – but there’s no point in doing it unless it’s also fun, eh?) So, these are some of the activities, paid and unpaid, which I am currently enjoying in my retirement so far. And as for what 2010 holds – who knows? Some of the unpaid activities may become paid (beginning to earn some money playing some gigs and selling fresh produce being a couple of longer-term aims), and vice versa (the things we presently do on a paid basis being equally fulfilling on a voluntary basis).
But if there’s one thing that my early retirement has taught me, and one point to this first post of 2010, it’s this: that dividing our lives into Work (BAD) and Leisure (GOOD) is a fundamentally unhealthy way to regard our precious time on this planet, and that the horrible phrase “Work-Life Balance” misses the point altogether. I mean, just look at it for a moment: isn’t it suggesting that a good proportion of our lives should be spent not actually living? And are we actually going to accept that? I believe we should all be aiming a lot higher for ourselves: why not aim instead to achieve a Life-Life balance, injecting joy and freedom into every area of our lives – including those things we do to earn money – so that Work becomes indistinguishable from Play, and ALL of our time can be reclaimed as Free Time? This has been the fundamental principle at the heart of my retirement, and is my wholehearted recommendation to anybody looking to improve their lives as they enter this new decade: instead of making a handful of New Year’s Resolutions, let’s achieve a New Year’s Evolution in our way of thinking! Let us cast off our shackles, stick two fingers up at the so-called “Work-Life Balance”, and reclaim our lives – every single day of them!
Happy New Year!
(Incidentally, for more on the specific subject of the Work/Play dichotomy, http://www.theplayethic.com is a website I’d like to wholeheartedly recommend. The brainchild of Pat Kane (ex-Hue and Cry – anybody remember them?), he calls for a rethinking of our work-obsessed culture, arguing the case for injecting play into every area of our lives. Check it out!)
