Rewirement Instead of Retirement
I recently retired after nearly twenty-seven years as a public education teacher of theatre arts, speech, and English, with a three year stint as a guidance counselor. Around year thirteen, I took a break from public education and worked as an actor and director for ten years. Then I became a college adjunct professor in a theatre department before returning to full-time teaching in a high school performing arts program, which I did for the final eight years of my teaching career. I’ve reinvented myself several times during my career.
Since I formally retired from teaching this past June, people ask how I’m enjoying retirement, like I’m bouncing grandchildren (don’t have any) on my knee and playing cards with my girlfriends. I smile and say, it’s not retirement, it’s rewirement. This was a term my dear friend Patricia Osborne shared with me. She works as a Life Coach and helps people navigate transitions in their lives, among many other things. You can find out more about what Patt does at her website www.adventurecoach.com. When I told her how I disliked the term retirement, she said, “You’re not retiring, you’re rewiring.” That term immediately felt right.
Now I am rewiring myself as a full-time writer. I’ve been writing for many years-three plays, a screenplay and two novels. It was always something I managed to do during the summers, holidays and snow days. Now, it’s what I do. Well, I haven’t quite figured it out. Between editing and launching my second novel, marketing both novels, learning how to use social media to promote my career, posting on Facebook and Twitter, starting a newsletter, struggling with my website, and beginning the third novel, which involves a good deal of research, I’m working as much as ever.
It’s a very exciting time. I do miss my students, but we manage to keep in touch. I’m finding that I have a love/hate relationship with the fact that I make my own schedule. That’s been the biggest challenge for me in these early days of rewirement. But over-all, I’m very happy and content. Thanks to a very supportive husband, great friends and loyal readers, I am on my way to the next chapter of my life.
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