Not long after the start of this blog, I cut my hours very slightly, and wanted to make sure I didn’t waste the extra time I was paying dearly for.
I had started reading about preparing for retirement in non-financial ways, and I realized that it was time to start (re-) building a life that didn’t revolve solely around medicine.
I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018 with lots of big goals, but even at the beginning, knew that I couldn’t follow all those dreams all at once. Every few months, I try to look at what I have accomplished, and see if I can adjust course to focus my free time in the directions I wish I would go: increasing fitness, building (or maintaining) connections with friends, family and community, engaging with the arts, and, lately, keeping up with financial tasks.
My last update was in early October 2022, and I had planned to update more frequently, hopefully a quarterly basis. However, everything was upended with my father’s illness, and eventual passing. Catching COVID in the fall wasn’t so great either.
I suppose now is as good a time as any to look back on the past 3, 4, 5 months, and think about what would be reasonable goals between now and my Summer post.
To make future posts on Future Me easier–and to keep me a little more focused on my goals, and to celebrate my wins–I may start writing about them monthly on my Friday posts (stay tuned).
Exercise
Getting to retirement in bad physical shape doesn’t sound like a great time. I have hopes that once I am in retirement, I can become fitter, but I realize I can’t wait that long to take care of my body. So one of my goals–the one I have probably focused most on–is to get more exercise while I am still working.
My goals have changed over the years, increasing when I have more time, decreasing as my schedule changes. Currently I try to get 150 minutes a week of some exercise (see: CDC recommendations) with at least 30 minutes of strength building; when I work in the hospital, I just can’t get that much. Instead, I lower my goal to 90 minutes of exercise, since that’s a realistic stretch.
How did I do?
In the past 22 weeks, I have spent 4 and 1/2 working in the hospital, 11 doing my usual clinic work, and 5 out of town for one thing or the other.
I caught COVID while abroad, and didn’t start to feel good while exercising until about 2 months later. Some of that delay may have been due to deconditioning, but still, getting sick really walloped my exercise capacity.
A few months later, my dad fell ill, and I did a lot of traveling and sitting in a hospital. Except for travel days, though, I found I got plenty of walking in while away.
It therefore shouldn’t be surprising that I met my exercise time goals in only 11 weeks (it would have been 12 if I hadn’t been called away at the last minute). This is a success rate of exactly 50%. Though, if I remove the 8 weeks of COVID and recovery, I can goose my numbers to 90%.
I will say I did pretty well, all things (COVID) considered. Though I’d very much like to do without the COVID this Spring, and get more exercise in.
Lessons learned:
- Incorporating walking into my commute makes it much easier to hit my goals.
- Lessons with a trainer get me to lift weights (which I have at home and could, in theory, do on my own) are totally worth it.
- I should definitely avoid catching COVID again. It’s terrible for my fitness.
Also learned this winter: I need to start stretching more, and also go back to my PT exercises for my hip. I plan to work on these one at a time.
Connections
More and more is being written about the importance of connections: with family, with friends, with people in the community. When I first cut back at work, I had been working long hours and neglecting my personal connections; this section was a prompt to work on this aspect of a healthy life.
The pandemic definitely put a crimp in my plans, though the rise of Zoom helped in some ways. My goals have been to keep up with my weekly social video calls, and maybe shoot for one in-person event per month, for now.
How did I do?
After recovering from COVID, I went on a tear: coffee with a former co-worker who retired last year, dinner at an old friend’s new house, Thanksgiving with family (1st time since the pandemic started!). We had another visit from my sister-in-law; we are getting better at hosting her. Also: a small birthday party for my father-in-law, and a dinner out with my Saturday Zoom friends.
All of these activities got me to my goal of one in-person event per month.
Then, my Dad’s health issues started. Since that time, I’ve had plenty of in-person interactions and visits: supporting my mom while he was in the hospital, seeing my brother and sister who came to help as well, going home for the funeral and seeing lots of friends and family who came to condole.
Another long-term goal had been to connect more with the religious community. In the aftermath of my father’s death, I think I have this taken care of as well.
Going forward, I think I would like to stick with the one-a-month goal for local social visits, keeping up with the Zoom calls, and continuing with the religious services. Eventually, when COVID is less of a concern, more social get togethers would be nice.
Clear the Clutter
My hope is to start retirement with a (mostly) decluttered home. The thought of having to spend several years shoveling out my house in order to enjoy it is… dispiriting.
For most of the 2022, I had a collection of smaller tasks to finish off. My most recent goal was to finish three of five projects: clearing the linen closet, tidy up either or both of our guest closets, clear another 25 books from my office shelves, and clear the desk in the living room to make room for a piano.
How did I do?
I did clear a ton of stuff from the linen closet. I won’t say that I couldn’t do more work in there, but for the first time in over a year, I can find stuff without juggling piles of other things. I will take that as a win.
As for the guest closets: one remains untouched. The other had a hook set up to hang the vacuum hose (which otherwise was spooled on the floor and interfered with any attempt at organizing there), which neatened the area up nicely. Though we could probably do more to use the space better.
As for clearing the way for a piano, I definitely have not finished this task. However, I have cleared a good amount of material from the area. I really should take photos every month, so that I can see the progress I am making. If we have no other disasters, I am hoping that I can clear out the desk by May (which is likely to have better weather for moving in a piano anyway).
My goal for this Spring will center on my office: clearing out books and some of the tchotchkes from the shelves. If I am really ambitious, I might clear the shelves and get the walls patched behind them. I also plan to continue clearing the “piano corner,” in the hopes we can bring in an instrument during the warmer weather. Any other projects that happen to get done can be a bonus.
Local Adventures
I haven’t been making firm plans anything, as our COVID transmission in the area is still pretty high.
I had hoped to get to a museum exhibit, and Mr. PiN and I did squeak in there on the very last day.
Going forward, I think I am going to give this a rest for the Spring. I am feeling a little overwhelmed by everything, and setting an intention here just feels like one more damn thing to do, rather than something fun.
Reading
Reading for fun always makes me very happy.
In prior posts, I have named a goal as reading one or more books that challenge me.
Given everything that has been going on in the past few months, I am not going to plan to read anything “challenging” (almost by definition, that’s a book I don’t really enjoy reading). I have a stack of mysteries from the library by my bed, and if I read a few before their due dates, that’s good enough for me.
Creative Activities
I realize that although I listed more crafty/arty projects here, what I really wanted to do was use different, and maybe new, skills. Different from work, anyway.
I had three goals for this period:
- Finish a photo book for any of the following years: 2018, 2019, 2020.
- Continue knitting, or possibly restart quilting.
- Keep blogging.
- Consider watching some courses on Masterclass (I received a subscription for the year).
I kept blogging, though there was a notable hiatus in February
The new scarf is growing nicely; I think it is a little more than half-way done. I suspect I will be able to get it done in time for July 1 (just when I need it–not!).
Going forward, I would like to finish off a photo book or two, in addition to finishing that scarf. And maybe making a matching hat. Gloves might even come into play (that’s a whole new skill set, so we will see).
MKSAP
I realized that I have to sit boards next year.
My challenge this year will to be get moving on my studies. I would like to chug my way through MKSAP in a more organized way, going through a number of subjects, both for study, and to make sure I have enough credits for my licenses.
I would like to set a goal (for my non-hospital months) of completing at least 2 study sessions (which usually last 2-3 hours with my good friend) or reading through one subject per month. Alternatively, finishing 2 subject quizzes per quarter would get me through all of the subjects in time for my exam.
Financial tasks
I had goal for this period: to invest the money in our IRAs.
It didn’t happen. Again.
At least a family emergency feels like a valid reason.
For next check in, the money in my IRA needs to be invested.
Also, I need to move more of our savings into either a high yield savings account or another higher yield alternative to a savings account paying less than 1% interest.
TL;DR
In short, my updated goals are to:
- Exercise more.
- Read some fun books, knit a scarf, study MKSAP more regularly, and clear out some of the unwanted items from my bookshelves.
- Take care of the Roth IRA and find somewhere better to stash our savings.
What goals do you have for the Spring?