By Wong Foot Hin
When I hear horror stories from friends about what happened when their parents retired, I got really scared. It ranges from frequent quarrels to divorces, from bouts of depression, early onset of dementia to even early death.
I quickly came to realise that other than the financial aspect, it is really important to plan and prepare for retirement. Preferably, it should not be when you suddenly find that you have retired, from one day to another, that you start planning and preparing.
So I looked at what I would want to do to fill my retirement days and started doing them a couple of years before retiring, all on a small scale, but which can be scaled up or expanded later.
The first thing I knew I needed to do was to develop my right brain, associated with all things creative and artistic. As I knew I really cannot draw, I decided to pick up classical singing from scratch. From not being able to read a single “towgay” or play the piano, I learned enough to be able to use an app called “Noteflight” to key in musical notations to learn the classical songs. It can be tedious entering note by note, but in time, I know that all I have will be time on my hands.
In addition, I also decided to pick up a foreign language. I chose Italian. It was purely because I liked the Italian culture and art, and have fond memories of my holidays in Italy. I am probably shallow, but I also liked the sound of English spoken with an Italian accent. I find it terribly sexy. (Please don’t judge me.) Also, as classical songs are usually in Italian, I reckoned it would help if I know what I am singing.
During the lockdown, I even ventured to sign up for a creative writing programme called “Remember When #6” organized by the Arts House, which led to a performed reading of the final work, albeit to no audience except fellow participants. We had an excellent facilitator who guided us through the 8-week programme, 5 sentences by 5 sentences, and introduced us to all the tricks of the trade.
Creative writing and performance were all new to me, and it really opened a window to all the possible things I could do if I am not afraid to try new things and to take chances. It is not about being good at it, but more about just doing it and being open to new experiences. (If you must, here is the link to the final work. https://youtu.be/AZewsGyl3R4.)
Last, but not least, it is important to give back. As a couple, my wife and I learned so much from a marriage enrichment weekend we attended. Since then, we have been helping out as presenters for the very same programme we attended. That is a journey which will be saved for another post.
Published by Wong Foot Hin
(Feature image by Strerlinglanier Lanier in Unsplash)
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Foot Hin is an aspiring retiree and an incidental lawyer. Whilst waiting to be elevated to the exalted status of Retiree, he is biding time as a director of One Legal LLC.
