Tuesday 22 September 2009

A Year!

It was my birthday the other day (had a lovely time, thanks to everyone for the cards and gifts) and that meant that I have now been retired for a year! I can hardly believe it, it's flown by. Most of that year has been brilliant, lots of travelling, lots of U2, lots of time to do what I really want to do. I honestly wonder how I fitted everything in and worked as well, but that's what people do don't they?

The hardest thing about stopping work has been to adjust to living on less money, but I am managing. Don't get me wrong, I know I am very lucky to be able to retire at a relatively young age and still get a thrill when my work pension appears in my account and I haven't worked for it! But then, I earned it over 30 years for it really.....

Another thing that was surprisingly hard for me was to stop being a nurse, I hadn't realised just how much nursing had become a part of me. It was a stronger part of my identity than I ever thought. I had to renew my yearly nursing registration just before I retired and that registration ran out at the end of August. Part of me wanted to renew it so I was still, legally, a nurse, yet part of me knew I had to move on and leave that part of my life behind. And that's what I did, so now I cannot practice as a qualified nurse.

After my year off I am ready to find a part time job now. I'm not really bothered what, but I'm ready to move on to something new, so I'm out there looking.....

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