Last year's word was Groove, as in find my grove for retirement since 2025 was my first full year of being retired. Well, being diagnosed with breast cancer in January and dealing with surgery, radiation and therapy put a big dent in winter and spring. Then summer was all about travel, so much so that I was thrilled to stay home for the entire fall. And I did get into a groove once the weather cooled down. I was out working in my garden on any day I was in town and it wasn't raining, usually for a couple of hours after lunch. That worked great but once winter set it, I sat down and have struggled to come up with an inside plan for productivity and exercise.
Now that the retirement honeymoon period is over, it's time to think about what I should be spending my time on to get the most out of retirement so the word for 2026 is:
Maximize
I love not working and thoroughly enjoy my days, especially the ones at home, but I need to go way beyond what I spend my time on. I need to focus on doing the things that will help me maximize my retirement. For instance, I need to focus on health - losing weight and getting more exercise when I can't get it gardening - so that my body is ready for anything and everything. I need to go through my entire house and purge stuff. Having less clutter will lead to more comfort (so I'm told) and getting my craft space under control will bring joy back to crafting. I need to find a way to make some money on the Corelle and Pyrex that have taken over my garage and basement so I can make my savings last longer until I decided to start Social Security and/or starting using my retirement funds.
So this year needs to be about doing things that will improve my future. Wish me luck.
