We bridged, kedged, and Kondo’ed ….

Building bridges …. We began planning our retirement about five years ago with a weekend workshop at the Center for Creative Retirement in Asheville, NC.  Rather than finances and savings, it was all about “How am I going to use this gift of time and freedom that retirement affords?’’ A key concept was ‘building bridges’, meaning in the years prior to retirement one should transition toward life interests that may have been constrained during our working years. 

One of Ning’s bridges was becoming a Certified Gallup StrengthsFinder Coach so that in retirement she can help individuals and groups capitalize on their God-given talents. For John it was learning to sail while in Milwaukee with the goal of sailing out of the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club in retirement.

Kedging ….. A highly recommended book at the Asheville workshop was “Younger Next Year.” It promotes an active senior lifestyle with focus on health and exercise. The authors introduce the concept of “kedging.” A sailing ship can be maneuvered by rowing an anchor out a ways from the ship, dropping it, and then hauling (kedging) on the anchor line to move the ship in the intended direction. In life, kedging means setting goals and taking action to pull oneself forward. We made a huge kedge when we dropped our anchor in Bay St. Louis, MS, and began pulling ourselves toward our new home base in retirement. 

Kondo’ing …. There’s a current bestseller by Marie Kondo about purging one’s belongings to create to a simpler, calmer life.  With all of our corporate moves over the years we thought we were living fairly lean in our Milwaukee apartment. But when we adopted the Kondo method of pulling every single thing out of every closet, drawer, and shelf, grouping them, and then asking “What things do we really love and want to keep?”  we were surprised by so much STUFF, so little that we really cared about. 

We gave away most everything in our 3400 sq ft Milwaukee apartment. Carload after carload went to Goodwill, furniture and home furnishings were delivered to people moving into a first apartment or home.  It was wonderful to help others. And it felt totally liberating to hit the reset button on all of our accumulated belongings. 

When renovation of our Bay St Louis home is complete in September 2015 we’ll kedge into our retirement house with all new furnishings right down to new pots and pans …. sprinkled with those few things that made the Kondo cut in Milwaukee.



Here's what's left...