... because I usually have the opposite problem of often feeling overwhelmed by all the things on my to-do list. This is no picnic either BTW.suomalainen wrote: ↑Sun Jul 30, 2023 9:43 pmWherever you go, there you are. As I read journals of people who have retired, I kept getting struck that these people kept needing to figure out what the hell to do with their time all day.
Here's my list
1) 4 standing podcast invitations.
2) 600 word article for NE.
3) Creating routes for AVA before season end.
4) Building a Kerbal Space Program controller
5) Finishing a new table top
6) Making an air filter
7) Painting the window frames of the house
8) Collecting all the pokemon (no, really)
9) Building a frame for "clock2" and getting it to run reliably.
10) Learning how to braze small parts to finish "clock3"
11) Building a temperature controlled window fan.
As far as I recall, "the list" has become longer and longer the more years it's been since quitting employment. I suspect it's related to an ever expanding WOG. The bigger the WOG, the more potential outlets for action. There are several things on this list I lacked the skill or even awareness of 10 years ago. Basically, "the more [opportunities] you can see, the more you will see". Thus the combination of renaissance expansion of WOG eventually gave me more than enough to do.
The other question is whether one has the will to do it. This is a different question. For example, there are lots of annoying responses to the "I'm so bored"-statement that come in the form of long lists of what one could do. This doesn't work insofar one doesn't find any of them inspiring. The "Tension"-theory of action may explain it. "Tension" is the difference between "what is" and "what could be" both on an intellectual basis but also on an emotional basis. It's one thing to see and understand intellectually that something could be different, but in order to drive, one also needs to feel that something ought to be different. Wants can not be manufactured!
I suspect that some forms of employment train that feeling away. Associating work with rewards that are external to the actual work is a particularly nefarious kind of operant conditioning. Perhaps it helps [me] that I've never chosen my vocation based on what kind of money it paid. I'm wondering if people who struggle with this issue picked their career based on how much it paid?