First post from my new apartment.
Since 2014 when I put the plan to retire and move back to Nova Scotia in gear, I started paying attention when people told me their retirement experiences. The stories that stuck with me were those plans that didn’t go as expected and had to be tweaked or reverted, particularly when they involved moving to a new destination. I thought (with a self-assuredness I wouldn’t mind getting back): that’s not going to happen to me.
But that is what happened to me. The big dreams I had for the rural property—a relaxing retreat people would want to visit with veggie gardens, flower gardens, yoga space, memorial garden, a fixed up and homey farmhouse all built around my beautiful tiny house—just couldn’t happen. I couldn’t plan for how I would FEEL there.
Here’s what I could have anticipated:
- My lack of motivation doing physical laboUr on my own.
- The overwhelming amount of work the farmhouse and property need.
- The challenges living rurally in hiring someone else to do work for you.
- The driving distance to family and friends. How infrequently I would see friends in the city.
- The isolation during a six-month winter.
Here’s what I absolutely could not have anticipated:
- The ghosts* that living in that area and on the property stirred up for me that contributed to my lack of commitment and motivation.
I tried it. I can’t be accused of making my move too soon. After almost 2.5 years (and two Nova Scotia winters), it’s time for the retirement pivot: I have moved to a fancy apartment (I LOVE it) in a university town which is a new and neutral location for me. I’m half an hour away from my dad and step-mom, one hour away from family and friends in the city. I will be social. I will be warm all winter.
But, like many aspects of my life, I feel I am not quite there yet. I moved in December 1st but only had three nights in the apartment before a previously committed 2 week dog-sitting gig that we updated to a hanging-out-with-my-dad-and-letting-him-dog-sit gig. The number one reason for this location is to be closer to help out my dad and step-mom as needed and that is what I’m doing. So, well, actually, scratch that … I am there already.
*No, not literal.
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