Joining the twilight years
The thought of retiring appears to be a time most people have some concern about. Including yours truly. For some years before my life change I decided to take this change in stages. Being a horticulturist in a Garden Centre was an excellent opportunity, being a seven day a week job I decided to reduce my job by just working weekends only, this also gave other staff a chance to spend quality time with their families, it worked well and gave me a chance to change my routine and make preparations for a new lifestyle before hanging up my secateurs.
One of the usual dreams on retiring that most people look forward to is the big overseas holiday. Luckily, I was in the position to explore a vast amount of the world’s most exciting places so I needed to adjust my life to a program that kept my mind circulating into other fields. I have always been a devote letter writer so retirement meant I had more time to correspond to my many friends around the world. Photography has also been a passion with me and my trusty Pentax and now I had time to enjoy sorting out my 150 photo albums. With the help of my many trip diaries there are many hours of pleasure as I relive some of my favourite countries through stories and photos.
Nearly all my family live in Australia so now there was no excuse not to leave my home country of New Zealand and settle in the Sunshine Coast. This complete change for me in my latter years was surprisingly easy knowing that I had the ability to fill in a productive day without being bored or lonely but I needed to get out and meet new friends plus enjoy the wonderful places to visit for readiness for an influx of visitors from back home. Luckily this was not too difficult as this coastline has an abundance of beauty spots and just for a change there is an unending beauty of the hinterland.
There have been of my friends visiting and I have enjoyed acting as tour guide, another wonderful achievement was being accepted as a volunteer in the Maroochydore Tourist department which has given me much pleasure in helping tourists decide what to see to enjoy their holidays. Joining a few clubs also bought me in contact with many new found friends, also enrolling with U3A has given me a further plus in enjoying my retirement, I know that taking a Writers Workshop course will help me improve my letter writing, there is also a German course which I am starting to improve my knowledge of the language and hopefully get a chance to return to this vibrant and scenic country.
This still leaves plenty of time to enjoy walking the beaches, swimming and cycling plus attending my colourful garden and visiting my family. I have recently had a complete hip replacement which has given me a more physical life, I have been used to keeping my mind active with projects while going through the painful years of waiting for this wonderful operation so with the combination of everything I am so lucky to be able to enjoy this wonderful life of retirement.
Now I look forward to many more years of enjoying myself, I will always be available to offer help to anyone who has problems in adjusting to this great lifestyle. It is our special time which we all should enjoy; I managed to contribute fifty years to the workforce and hopefully left a small amount of achievements for others to learn by.
Cheers
JIM
Jim Fitzthum.
1/23 Pangarinda Place
Mooloolaba.
Sunshine Coast. 4557
Queensland . Australia,
Ph. (07) 54775507 Mob. 0421711357
Email. Fitzy11@bigpond.com
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