Thoughts from home

We're between destinations this week, so I've had some time to reflect on other things as I catch up with everything needing to be done at home.

In a blog last October I talked about priorities to guide my life, as opposed to goals, which were the driver for my first year of retirement. See the post here: http://bagladyinwaiting.blogspot.com/2011/10/retirement-year-2.html

I identified my priorities as spirituality, health, community, purpose, and curiosity. I know those are the primary movers for me. But what I noticed recently is that I was working mainly in the areas of purpose and curiosity - in the #4 and #5 order of things - which I would have done anyway if I'd never made a list! And I was not working so much on the top three. And I was feeling restless.

So, while we were in Arizona, I considered what spirituality and health look like for me, and I got into the habit of a discipline for each of them, which I have now done every day for two weeks, usually before I attend to everything else in my day. And for community, #3, I made a commitment to see a friend, talk to a friend, email a friend, or blog my community, every day. So far that's working for me.

We leave on Wednesday for three weeks in Ecuador. We're doing a home exchange with an American couple who retired there from the east coast. I'm a little nervous about this trip, because it's the first time we've ever traveled internationally, except in a guided group, to a country where English is not widely spoken. I'm not too adventurous, either, so I've done a lot of reading and note taking. We'll be picked up at the Quito airport by a driver from our first-night hotel. We'll be picked up at the hotel the next morning by a driver from the town we're going to. And when we get to our house, there will be a large binder full of information. I'm thinking by that time my initial hesitation will have dissipated.

My next blog entry will be from South America!