Deliberate Drooping

This morning as I was analyzing my pickle ball game over a latte – recognizing the subtle improvements I have made over the past 6 weeks - I thought about other subtle improvements in our lives now that we are retired. These improvements may not be obvious to anyone else, but they are worth noting.

The most noticeable difference in our retired lives is how our spending has become more intentional. I don’t mean we are spending more – we certainly are not – what I mean is that when we spend, it is intentional. Now you might think – isn’t all spending intentional? I would say no. In our old lives – we were part of the lucky people, the top 2 % of income earners – we did not think much about what we spent. If we wanted something, we bought it. We were not shop-a-holics by any stretch of the imagination, and I still have clothes from the 1980's, but we were blessed beyond measure, and enjoyed the fruits of our labours without much thought to cost. And sometimes our spending was even less deliberate - sometimes we spent simply because we were bored:

“What do you want to do today, Steph?”
“I don’t know…how about we go to Canadian Tire?”

And off we would go, inevitably coming home with yet another lame gadget we really did not need.

Here in Bucerias when we go to the store it is such a journey that it is definitely deliberate. A long 40 minute walk to the town, then up and down the hot cobblestone streets to find the right tienda, then another long hot walk home. You gotta really WANT something to go through that. More than that though, we now think about every single purchase, because we are technically homeless – moving on to another part of Mexico on March 01 - and we cannot take "things" with us.

Let me tell you…if you want to shake up your life and learn to live intentionally, and spend intentionally, pack up your “stuff” (or better yet, sell it) and hit the road. It not only teaches you that you really do not need all that stuff we spend our lives collecting, but it teaches you restraint: how to pause before buying and say, “Do I really NEED this?”

The next subtle life change I have noticed is that I am slowly learning to be OK with my aging body. It is easier here because we are surrounded by people older than ourselves. As very young retirees, we are the “kids” around here. People say, “Ah you two kids are so cute.” I see all around me old saggy bodies, and beautiful spirits. Frankly, I am in awe of how active all these older people are. They play pickle ball (and kick our ass most of the time), they golf 4 or 5 times a week, they hike, they walk, they ride bikes, they swim and aqua- size. The fact that their skin is wrinkled, or their boobs droop really does not matter. So as I begin to droop, I am encouraged to embrace it and aspire to be as active and "beautiful" as they are.

Another positive and subtle change in how we live is we are never in a hurry. EVER. Life just happens slower here. When you are retired, there is no real reason to be in a hurry, and when you retire in Mexico or the developing south, it is impossible to be in a hurry. Life here teaches you that the world does not end if something does not happen right away. When you are retired you have ALL DAY. All week. All month. In Mexico there is a saying..."mañana"...tomorrow. Always tomorrow. ¿Cuál es la prisa?

Yesterday, we walked 30 minutes to catch a bus, and then took an hour long bus ride to Home Depot. We had nothing to buy. We bought nothing. We just wanted to walk around and see what kind of stuff they sell here. We spent 30 minutes there, and then spent an hour and a half coming home. Very inefficient.

I am learning to embrace inefficiency. I really do have all day – what is the hurry?