About:
Around the time I signed the papers for early retirement, I definitely had a “what did I just do?” kind of moment. I’m giving up this wonderful network of work friends and colleagues where I can talk tech to my heart’s content all day long every day. How can I keep the best parts of that going? How can I broaden and redirect the focus beyond tech and onto the big issues we face in this world? How am I going to stay interested and socially connected and supportive and avoid becoming a doomscrolling couch potato – or worse?
Fortunately, I had already written these two poems. I knew I wanted my post-retirement life to respect these two poems.
Mission Statement:
When this showed up on my whiteboard, all was right with the world. I told my friends: “I don’t have a plan, but I do have a mission statement.” This would leverage my skills from before retirement where, as a manager of a small team of software engineers, I concentrated on promoting, facilitating and inspiring productive conversations to draw out connections and serendipities and then support others to lead and take it from there.
And it would support the two poems.
How:
TL;DR – See the following two images.
Basic Plan:
- The top sentence is going to be way out ahead of the second sentence while I build my own network of people who can help with various things.
- Start by going out into the world and meeting some people, being attentive, asking good questions. Get to know the people, groups and organizations and how they interact with each other.
- Figure out some way to organize everything to support the second sentence.
- Continue get out and talk to people to keep the momentum going.
My interests, issues and communities:
- Environment: climate change, renewable energy, clean water and air, circular economies.
- Social Justice: women’s and trans rights and health care, fairness and equity, strengthening the social safety net.
Protect The Precarious 