My mom often advises people contemplating retirement, "Don't worry about having enough to do in retirement. You'll never be busier."

I can attest to this. Having been out of the workforce for almost four years now (it astounds me that it's been that long already), I can confirm that I'm as busy as ever. For me, the difference between paid work and retirement is what I choose to spend my time on. In retirement, I have the luxury of being able to focus on what's most meaningful for me, such as engaging in joyful movement, preparing and eating healthy and delicious foods, writing, organizing, learning, teaching, being present for loved ones, and contributing to my community.

Sometimes I take on more than I should, recognizing in hindsight that a given commitment is not aligned with my priorities. As I've shared before, priorities remind me of what's important to me and provide a framework against which I can track where I spend my time.

I thought of this today when I came across this quote from Fred Rogers:

You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.

Interestingly and helpfully, Mr. Rogers also said this:

Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime's work, but it's worth the effort.

What I take from those two quotes by Mr. Rogers is this:

It behooves us to discover who we are and to make our choices accordingly, while recognizing that who we are will evolve over our lifetime.

Mr. Rogers also said:

As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has—or ever will have—something inside that is unique to all time. It's our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.

Helping others realize their uniqueness and find ways to express their individual gifts is a virtuous endeavour. And while it's not up to us to define for others who they are, we can support them in discovering their specific talents and desires, and in using those to make a positive contribution to the world.