La Voz de Galicia – 22 de marzo, 2024 →
This week, I read an interview with the science communicator and founder of the scientific museums in Coruña, Ramón Núñez Centella, which made me reflect on the possibilities of adapting to different ways of being in the world depending on the stage of life we are in. In the context of his retirement, Núñez Centella said, «I had to learn to fill my days,» a phrase that kept resonating in my head. Because, whether we like it or not, the rhythm of our lives is marked by our personal and professional obligations, and when some of those obligations change or disappear, then we have to rethink our routines, and that is not always easy. The idea of «filling the days,» especially when coming from a professional life full of social life, commitments, and responsibilities, is more complex than we think.
Retiring from something always brings consequences. Voluntary retirement is different from involuntary retirement, but I wonder what the difference is in terms of what happens afterwards, how do we learn to fill our days as people who, for whatever reason, are retired from our previous life?
In these last twelve years, Maruxa’s daughters’ priority has been to «fill her days» with activities to try to slow down her cognitive decline. And in these last four years, since I retired from the music industry to focus on my other lives (teaching, writing), I have also reflected on the fact that when my schedule was full, I didn’t have as much time to think. Now, «filling the days» means something different every day, it means reinventing existence as we go along, and I must admit that, despite the uncertainty, I prefer to build this stage like this, day by day…
