“Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you; all of the expectations, all of the beliefs, and becoming who you are.”
-Rachel Naomi Remen
When co-workers ask me what I am going to do after I retire, I often joke that I will spend the first six months resting and healing from 50 years of working. I am not really joking too much. I got my first job bagging groceries in a mom and pop grocery store when I was 16 years old. I have been working ever since that day. I am basically a hermit and I am happiest when I am home. When I leave my home I feel like I am going to battle in a somewhat hostile world. Being a responsible adult and doing all the things responsible adults do is hard work. A lifetime of doing it takes a toll. Weekends, vacations, and retirement are times when we stop, retreat, and heal our wounds. These are also times we let go of non-essentials and we can be who we really are. Much of life doesn’t allow us to do this. A great deal of life is like being in a play. We wear makeup and different kinds of costumes in order to play a role and act in a scene. When we can take the time to not do this we can become who we really are.
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