It's traditional for a guy for tackle his to do list when he retires. To do lists are like a bank account; unfortunately, they're debits, not assets - they are tasks you owe, time you borrowed to do something else instead of what you were supposed to do.
In reality, you can only address the top few things on the list, so items accumulate faster than you can deal with them. Things gets worse as your life gets more complicated. The list keeps getting longer and longer, filled with issues you won’t get around to, tasks you’ll never have time to complete, goals you wish you had achieved.
Until you retire.
Beating those tasks into submission – crossing them off the list – it’s tremendously satisfying. Repeated little dopamine surges of satisfaction. Also it moves you out of the past and into real time – well, the tasks of the present.
Hidden amidst all that rosy aura of completion is a different question lurking. At some point, the list of things you've put off grows shorter and shorter and eventually most everything is done. What then? How many times can you sort the sock drawer? What comes next?
For me, one of those things is to go traveling. See places unseen, find new experiences, challenge myself, do something audacious. When young, if I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was likely to be "be an explorer."
So here I am - about to explore and to embark on an adventure. Thanks for joining me.