Work Song is a 2010 book by Ivan Doig about Butte, MT, but that isn’t what this post is about. But it is about work:
work song, any song that belongs to either of two broad categories: songs used as a rhythmic accompaniment to a task and songs used to make a statement about work.
Encyclopedia Britannica
I left my long-time job in governmental public health back in 2018. It is hard to believe that it has been 4 years! I intended to work until I was 70, but not in a fulltime job that required a long commute. I was super fortunate to be hired by the University of Washington to moderate a monthly public health webinar. I have been doing that for about 3 years and the time has come for me to transition out of that role.
A recent article in AARP got me thinking about ‘why to keep working after retirement’:
- A cushion for your savings
- Exercise for your brain
- Overall health
- A sense of community
- A sense of purpose
- A chance to give back
- Good times
- Serving the greater good
All 8 of these reasons resonated, but one of them really caught my eye – exercise for your brain. They talk about a particular kind of benefit by switching to a different type of job or role, which might help slow cognitive decline.
Note: Other than the financial benefit , all these are also gained through volunteering.
Most of my friends are no longer working. But all of them are pretty darn busy and active. I do want to call out one friend in particular. She was a neonatal intensive care (NICU) nurse. Her new (volunteer) role/hobby is doing household projects for herself and others, such as painting and other related activities. She has great taste and always loved houses, so this is a good fit for her and a complete departure from her NICU days!
My post retirement gig was in my field. While I was able to stay engaged and work with great people, I didn’t have the opportunity for ‘novelty processing’ gained by switching to a completely different job.
This prompted me to think about what I really might have wanted to do. My passion, in addition to blogging, is COLOR! I am completely intrigued with color analysis and love to guess people’s season and note when a color they are wearing does, or doesn’t, work for them. It is expensive to be trained and there isn’t really a market for color analysis in the Northwest (black and neutrals rule), so I will keep it a hobby for now.
Allene
And Happy Birthday to my meilleur ami!
Travels with Allene 