Tomorrow is a big day for me. The workplace is throwing a party in my honor. My “Farewell Party”. I am retiring after 28 years of service and I am excited.

Over the past two months I have been regularly approached by familiar faces from various other departments, individuals with whom I barely exchanged morning pleasantries. All stopping to wish me well and giving the unsolicited advice! Agree they are all my well-wishers but, their suggestions, tips mostly border around how I should manage my health and a lot on how Yoga could change my life. Their words created a notion that after retirement my life was over! But, little did they know that there was no place for “Retirement Blues” in my retirement plans but only “colors”. I was going back to my first love of sketching and painting. I am, in fact looking forward to retirement!

There has been an artist in me for as long as I can remember, I cherish distinct memories of my first box of crayons and coloring books lying down on the floor of the family living room scribbling away. My life has been an awesome, challenging and fulfilling journey. My only regret being my inability to dedicate substantial amount of time to my favorite activity of sketching. So, caught up was I in the rat race that it was never priority but, now I have decided that I am going to make the rest of my life the best of my life.

Maintaining a hobby need not necessarily involve a huge investment in terms of money and energy. My investment towards my happiness is the 101 Pc Art Set. A complete collection of crayons, paints, brushes, pencils, erasers all neatly arranged in a smart wooden box. I am confident that with my 101 Pc Art Set, I am never going to be lonely. My hobby is sufficient to keep me good spirits, mentally alert and active. I have the best tools with me.

Life without a workplace can no doubt be very tricky but inculcating a new hobby or picking up an old one can do wonders to keep the retirement blues away. While we plan our saving for the post retirement years I truly believe we must have a small portion put away under a leisure activity category. That will give us the confidence to pursue those activities fully without having to worry and stress about affordability. Retirement can be a lot of fun. It is not the end of productive life but the start of something phenomenal and fantastic.