Guest Post by Lisa Boesen
Encore Performance. Second Act. Life 2.0. I am not sure if there is a perfect term to replace the quite worn out word for leaving your primary job in mid or late life, but regardless, if this next stage of your life involves moving, the process can be quite interesting, if not overwhelming.
My husband I and are now downsizing to prep for the Boesen Migration to Colorado. We do have fears about up and leaving our physical home of 12 years and our place of residence for 35 years, but we are most ready for an adventure before it gets too late. I would hate to look back at 90 and feel we have been in the same place, neighborhood and town for all of those years and not had a re-launch, rewire, re-whatever.
Over the past several years I have written several blogs on downsizing parents “stuff” and now, we are doing the same thing. Many times over the last six months there have been pain points when selling, donating, and gifting began to strangely feel like when we were managing my parents’ estate, except we are still alive and can replace things. In addition to a pretty extensive Excel workbook of task lists and timelines, there is also a “bucket list” of things to do and people to see before we leave.
One year out, we started the “bucket list” because, well, if you are leaving in a year, it will probably be one last time for many things. There are the obvious: The Last Oktoberfest Party, The Last Thanksgiving, and the last time to see the Jack Melick Orchestra perform at Lodge 88. Then there were and are more poignant activities such as taking time to go see a holiday performance of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Employee Choir. I enjoyed directing the choir from 2002-2004 and it was one of those career memories that had absolutely nothing to do with my actual job but overall, made my job more fun. I was and am still very grateful MDACC allowed me the opportunity to share a skill that I was not able to make as a career but could eventually share in my career environment. How cool is that?
Our bucket list includes people, places, and things. Some list items connect to when my husband and I were dating such as a last visit to the Starbucks where we first met, some routine activities like going to The Hobbit Café for a brew, some new activities such as Pondicheri’s Fried Chicken Tuesday with a good friend, or revisiting the past by visiting some of my parents’ friends who are still alive but homebound. Now that we are six months out, our list includes scheduling out confirmations of lunch, dinner and cocktail appointments with friends, because you know the adage, if it isn’t on the schedule, it doesn’t get done.
I am glad we started early on the list. I hope to have no what ifs, shoulda, coulda, or wouldas when we migrate to Colorado. I have enough awareness to know when I am looking out over the Front Range west towards the Rocky Mountains, my past may very quickly seem unimportant. But, my biggest fear is getting to CO and realizing I left someone off the list.
So, if you building your own list, some thoughts. Take pause. Consider all five facets of your Personal Community – spiritual, mental, physical, emotional and social. Breathe deep. Exhale slowly through pursed lips. List.
About Lisa Boesen: Wife, stepmom, speaker and certified master coach mastering the art of household management with an apron, spreadsheets and a smile!
Lisa is a Houston based lifestyle management coach and creator of The Domestic Administrator. The title fits all those tasks and small projects she performs to manage her business and household, save money, improve efficiencies, reduce waste, navigate the healthcare system, garden, maintain a social calendar to improve longevity, nurture friends and family relationships and of course, make her home pretty.
