My Tireless Retirement – Week 196

 

A brand new year always feels like I get a fresh, clean slate to make changes or improvements to my already incredible life.  I find that rather exciting!  Nothing reinforces that more than a new journal to jot down my thoughts and accomplishments as I traverse the year ahead.  True to my thrifty “do-it-yourself” nature I used items I already had on hand, including a college rule spiral notebook, to create my 2026 journal.  Along with my writings I love to embellish each page using scraps of craft paper, washi tapes, stickers and my colored pens.  This year I have loads of tapes and a combination of fun stickers I already had left from previous years as well as some new ones I got for Christmas.  I also plan to use up all of my miscellaneous colored pens I have before I buy any new ones.  Hopefully I will get some cool pens I have my eye on for my next birthday or Christmas.  I really love and appreciate simple gifts like that.

 

I expect this year to be full of various challenges and I am praying for calm wisdom to make good choices and decisions as I navigate through my life this year.  Focus is my word this year.  I plan to focus a lot of my time and energy on improving my quality of life and my relationships, not only with others, but with myself.  Setting and maintaining boundaries has long been a struggle for me, but I’m getting better at it.  In the past year I have discovered a lot about my circle, especially with regard to where their moral and ethical compass points.  It was quite an eye opening experience for me which has led to tightening up my circle quite a bit.  I’m not sad for me, but rather sad for the person I am choosing to spend less time with.  The upside is that I now have more bandwidth for the people I should be spending time with - my tribe.

 

As 2025 came to a close and I looked back at all I was able to accomplish last year I find myself beginning 2026 with a renewed sense of spirit and hope.  I tackled some really hard things and in the process I was able to make my house my home.  I have always appreciated having this house, but now I really appreciate this house.  It’s mine and no one else’s.  It is my sanctuary and I am much more selective about who I allow into my sanctuary.  Needless to say, there will be no more long term houseguests.  That was definitely a lesson I learned this past year.  I have plans and projects in mind to start making my sanctuary even better.

 

I am not one to be silent.  I am not pleased with the current state of our economy or how our government is currently running.  I am not pleased with the president, vice president, the cabinet or congress.  They have all let us down.  As a fiscal conservative (with a sprinkling of liberalism), I’m infuriated by the colossal waste of our tax dollars while the vast majority is forced to do without.  I have grave concerns about what will happen as these individuals continue to run amuck unchecked, wreaking havoc at every turn.  I have deep concerns about AI and the potential for disaster if this is not handled correctly.  I have little faith that it will be handled correctly.  I am praying we do not end up in a war.  This blog was never intended to be political in anyway, but this is the realistic part of life.  I do not plan to stick my head in the sand and pretend like everything is okay.  It’s not.

 

To compensate for our high inflation and the steady rise in prices I will be working harder on my own finances making the most of what I have as well as growing my wealth to compensate.  Even though I am retired I do not feel, at this time, I can truly sit back and just relax.  I need to earn more and be a good steward of my resources.  Fortunately there are ways to do this.  To begin with, on New Year’s Day, I re-opened my Etsy store and I am currently working on more inventory to stock it with.  My goal to be more creative and spend more of my time crafting and sewing will help me do this.

 

All occasion handcrafted greeting cards

Additionally, I am contemplating whether or not to accept another higher paying part-time job that has been offered to me.  I also have another offer doing something similar as contract work.  Either one would take up time so I want to carefully consider before I accept or decline.  But these opportunities do fit with my overall criteria of what I would enjoy doing in my retired life so it is something for me to seriously consider.

 

My greatest endeavor this year is to be healthy in mind, body and spirit and I am excited to be doing the things I feel will help me to accomplish this.  Time outdoors, especially in the mountains, is going to be high on the priority list this year and I am super excited about that.  With plenty of ideas listed for the year ahead I find myself feeling really good about where I am at and where I am heading.  I am very happy and content.  God willing, it is going to be a very good year!

 

I find this incredibly sad 😔
I am so grateful not to be part of this statistic

I’d love to hear what some of your goals or plans are.  What is your priority for 2026?  I hope you are all doing well and feeling content.  I wish you much love and happiness.  God bless you my friends.