The Gift of Time

I turned 70 in December of 2023. This past August my wife and I sold the business (Home Care for Seniors) we had started in 2010. 

I had made a promise to myself upon selling the business. I promised myself that I would allow myself the time for self-exploration.  To resist the urge created by the forces pushing us to be productive, to work, to be useful etc.  I realized that I had been given the Gift of Time. Free to explore. To do things that I had a vested interest in doing. My focus became on my newest hobby-my health. Time to exercise (the way in which I wanted to); time to focus on what I ate (and when); time to read and reflect; time to be fully present with our two grandchildren; time to be present with my life partner of 35 years and do what I could to support her own personal journey of self-exploration. Time to meditate. Travel.

I have developed a real sense of gratitude for the opportunity I have been given. I think I can easily appreciate the time now given the energy and commitment that I put into my professional career. I worked long and hard, always choosing to follow my heart whenever faced with crossroads. Following my heart didn’t necessarily mean choosing the easier path.

So I have been on this new path for a good six months now. I’ve had successful Prostrate surgery, lost 30 pounds I didn’t need, exercise daily (walking, swimming, using exercise bike), read, have been diagnosed with and treated for sleep apnea, spend a couple days a week with our two grandchildren, have enjoyed time with our three adult children and their significant others and have thoroughly enjoyed our time in our Cape May home.

Presently, I am exploring opportunities to be of service, while at the same time challenging myself to continue to be active and open to new learning.  Researching potential to become involved in advisory capacity to organizations that could benefit from my experience and whatever expertise that I may have that could make a difference. I also have a motivation to speak to the need for our country to be unified. The current climate is not healthy. People with too much power and influence are making decisions without considering the good of the whole. People are too divided. Compromise seems no longer to be an option.  We have lost our moral compass as a country.  I want to respond. How to is not something that I have been able to figure out up to this point.  Given that it is an recurring interest, perhaps I just need more time to realize a path forward in regards to this.

Thankfully, I do have the Gift of Time.