Keeping Busy

Is Keeping Busy Good?

I retired less than a year ago. Before I retired, the most frequent question I was asked was, “What will you do?” Now, it is “Are you keeping busy?” Have you ever thought about what keeping busy means? I do not believe in keeping busy. Playing a game on your phone is keeping busy, as is drinking whiskey every day with your buddies.

In my retirement, I don’t want a fixed schedule, but I want to do more than keep busy or kill time. I want to spend my time doing something meaningful. It doesn’t have to be working for a charity or knitting sweaters for people. I write. It is meaningful to me because I might help some people get healthier or lose weight. It is not for the money. My book, The Three Rules to Lose Weight and Keep It Off Forever, is meaningful regardless of whether others buy it. I can only control what I do.

I also find exercise meaningful, though it helps no one other than myself. The same is true with learning to draw. It is very unlikely that I will ever show my drawings at a gallery, and probably less likely than I will skydive next week. That is not the point. Meaning is within. But keeping busy is not meaningful by itself. Meditation is meaningful to many people, and no one would say it is keeping busy twiddling your thumbs.

The point I am making is there is no reason to talk about keeping busy. Doing something productive and meaningful matters, whether you are working or retired. Even on vacation, I like to do something meaningful—exercise, read a book, and see the sites. I don’t think about keeping busy.