Retirement Ain’t So Great

As mentioned, I managed to complete residency.

That was a few weeks ago, and I haven’t stopped celebrating.

Minimal blogging.  No professional reading.  Lots of sleeping.  Ice cream pretty much whenever I want it…as if I’ve just had my tonsils removed.

I’ve gone surfing twice and will go again in a few days, after I buy the GREATEST BOARD EVER KNOWN TO MAN.

It’s a far-cry from a bohemian life of decadence – no absinthe, no scantily-clad pixies, no pleasure nymphs to speak of – but I don’t remember being this lax, this flatly averse to self-denial.

But, I have to say, after a week of this…workin’s cool.

I like needing to be somewhere in the morning.  I like having a schedule and trying to be efficient.  Mostly, I just like the purpose that a job provides.  With so many people out of work around the country, I can understand how hard it must be to deal with such a life change.  Aside from the financial instability (which I don’t have), just the dramatic shift itself must be really difficult to bear.

Lucky for me, I’m working some moonlighting shifts at nearby practices.  So, we’ll have enough money until I start a real job next month.  And I have quite a few things to keep me busy until then also, because my next job will be in Germany.  So preparing takes lots of energy.

But after even just a week away from the job, I can see that I’m too young to retire.  There’s lots of things I would change about my last job, and I’m not depressed since leaving or wishing to go back.  NOT AT ALL.  But I am looking forward to many of those intangible things that a daily job brings.  Some people are built to work.  In many ways, I guess that’s me.