Definition of Self

In an earlier blog post I wrote of passing milestones in my life. I have now passed yet another milestone. Friday, January 17, 2014 was my last working day with the City of Cincinnati Police Department. I have been getting up and heading to work at various assignments and various locations within the Cincinnati Police Department for the past 42 ½ years, and now it is over. I am not sure how I feel about that. I am not one of those people who chased retirement like it was the Holy Grail. I never looked forward to the day I would retire and in fact approached it with some degree of dread. I have been asked, after announcing my intentions to retire, what I am going to do. The short answer is, I do not have a clue. That somewhat bothers me as I think I am supposed to have made “retirement plans”. I did not.

Counting my time in the military, I have been a civil servant for 50 ½ years. That is all I have been, and that is all that I know. I have never held a full-time job in the private sector. I know not of that mysterious place. AS a retired person,, I am no longer sure what the definition of me is. As a full-time active duty member of the United States Navy for eight years, I was a sailor, and that defined me. As a member of the Cincinnati Police Department I was a Police Officer or Police Specialist or Police Sergeant for 25 years, and that defined me. As a member of the Cincinnati Police Department’s Information Technology group I was a Network Administrator and a Certified Novell Engineer, and that also defined me. But now that has all changed. Now nothing defines me. Is “retiree” a definition of self?

Do not get the point of this wrong. I am not whining about the lack of definition. In fact, I consider it a challenge. I am now seeking a new definition of self. Referring back to what I said earlier, I do not know what I am going to do, and therefore I do not know what the definition of me will be. I am not totally wandering aimlessly in a sea of uncertainty. I will review, revise, and begin working on the bucket list. I will pay more attention to my wife (something that I hope is not too little too late). I feel confident that with the extra time on my hands I will be putting more blog articles out there (did I hear someone moan?). I will begin immediately to begin Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, and Budgeting the rest of my life (that sounds familiar). So I am off to my new adventure as I seek to redefine myself once again.

So now my first order of business is out of the way.  I have written this retirement article.  . . .now what?  I am open to suggestions, feel free to plunge right in and help me to figure this out.  So far I have had suggestions of running, walking, learning the guitar, taking up a hobby, writing a book, and doing nothing.  All (except running) are within the realm of possibilities.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?