Reassessing

It’s R day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Reassessing seems a good thing to explore as I am finding it an important component on my new journey of retirement.

What matters to me now? What do I want to keep? What is it time to let go of or do differently? Sounds like I’m cleaning a closet. In a way, I suppose that’s a pretty good metaphor for where I find myself. My actual clothes closet is pretty clean. I did my own variation on Marie Kondo’s approach some time back and cleared out a lot of stuff. Shortly thereafter the local store where I routinely shopped moved 5 miles away, and then came the covid-19 pandemic. I didn’t go clothes shopping for nearly two years, and some already tatty stuff got even more tatty. Some of it has been relegated to the ragbag or the trash.

But I digress. This isn’t actually about my literal closet. The real theme is what stays and what goes in my life. I do like Marie Kondo’s approach of using what sparks joy as an arbiter. What does spark joy now, and what, if I modified my personal approach to something could spark joy? And what is it time to put out for recycling or into the compost bin?

And then there’s Joseph Campbell, teacher and explorer of myth.

So what’s my bliss? At the moment, I’m not sure, but as I’m writing, I’m recalling that often the question is much more important than the answer. I feel like like I am starting to ask myself good questions. Sparking joy and following bliss. A good beginning.