Whatever happened to Mr. Spontaneity?

I often write "off the cuff", which is not easy because I only wear T-shirts and polo shirts... which, as you know, have no cuffs. But I do it. I do it because to plan ahead is not in my nature. I am someone who has set off for destinations thousands of miles away without so much as a map to guide me. I don't make advance reservations for hotels or motels along the way. I don't plan my trip days ahead of time. I just decide when I want to leave, where I want to go, and then just go. All of my preparations have always been last minute ones.

I react more than plan in advance just about everything. I have always been this way, as far back as I can remember. I was fortunate enough to find a job suitable to that nature. I was a troubleshooter. This entailed recognizing a problem and determining its cause and developing a plan of action quickly to keep it from getting worse and then correcting it.

It was a great job for someone who likes to think on his feet and doesn't like routine.

So now I am retired and I have few opportunities to take advantage of those skills and innate talents. I find myself falling into routine all the time. Golf on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 30-45 minute workouts at the Y on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Couch potato on Sundays (and most of of my other waking time). Blog six days out of seven. This last is the hardest part of my life these days.

The toughest thing about my working life was the routine of going to work 5 days a week. It wasn't the going, I liked the commute most of the time. It was the having to commute that got under my skin. At the same time, I am not one of those "free spirits" who just flits about through life.

Someone once described me as the "most nervous lazy person" she had ever met. It doesn't quite fit. I am not nervous. What I think she met was that I didn't like to just sit around but I also didn't like to make much effort avoiding it.

But now I am becoming an "in a rut" kind of guy. I skip a day of golf or exercise and I feel a bit of angst, guilt, or loss.

I think our whole social system is upside down. We should go through school, retire for 20 years, and then work until we die on the job. This way, we'd have the energy and stamina to have the fun of trying all the exciting things, go to all the exotic places, and be able to sleep on a floor of a bathroom if we had to. Yeah, I have done that. Sleep on a bathroom floor, that is. Also in a couple of laundromats (it's warm and comfy on top of those industrial size dryers), and on various floors of new found friends.... as well as beaches on both coasts.

I miss what little vagabond life I lived. My practical nature wouldn't let me do it full time so it had to be done in spurts, a few days here and there when I had some time off from my job (or, better described, "the yoke of responsibility").

Now I am retired. Barring a few money constraints, I could take off anytime I wished, go wherever I chose, but I don't. I have become addicted to being comfortable. I can no longer live out of a backpack or suitcase.

I have been domesticated.