So many choices, so little time

 The time/choices cliché came back to me last week as our retirement community held its annual activity fair. It used to be called the “committee fair,” but the term committee has almost become a bad word to those of us who retired hoping to leave behind the world of committees, duties, and deadlines. So now we have “activity groups.”

And they’re a good thing, these activity groups. The life of the whole community here is motivated, organized, and run by us residents. And since we have lots of great ideas, the groups proliferate. No need to be bored or to feel useless. And each groups offers not only good stuff to do and ways to serve, but relationships and new friends to be made—the real heart of the community.

We used the auditorium for the fair, with each activity group displayed at the tables spread around the perimeter. Colors, conversations, and lots of excitement circulated, giving the event almost the feel of a circus.

So much to choose from. Groups representative were ready to hear questions, offer explanations, and recruit new members. Altogether, we have between 30 and 40 groups. Here’s a sample:

The Lobby Décor group undertakes the task of making the large lobby of the campus’s central building a welcoming, beautiful place. They work with another activity group, Art on the Walls, to incorporate art work by local artists. It’s often better than an art museum.

The aforementioned Art on the Walls group also makes sure all the halls and meeting places are adorned with “real art,” rather than the stuff in the waiting rooms of doctors’ offices. The pictures are periodically changed, making walking down the halls a pleasant occasion.

Several groups focus on our response of gratitude to the staff who serve us in the retirement community. One such group raises money to help different workers further their education, and another finds other ways to express appreciation, including gift cards at Christmas.

I love the Library Activity Group, because I love our community library, open 24/7. (It’s “serve yourself” in the middle of the night.) The Studio Arts Group sponsors different kinds of art classes, plus time, materials, and space for people to work on their own projects. The Fitness Group helps organize the different exercise classes, and sponsors events like trail walks, and trips to bowling alleys and archery ranges. The Collections Display Team gives residents a chance to display their collections and makes the walk to the dining room an education in itself. The different Garden groups represent our two campuses and help run the community gardens. We also have an Education group, a Health and Safety group, a group that encourages recycling and environmental care, a Market Place group, a Spiritual Care group, and at this point I’m know I’m leaving some important groups out, so please forgive me if it’s your group and you happen to be reading this. (I didn’t mention my group, by the way.)

If all this leaves you panting, you have good reason. It leaves me with my own dilemma.

It’s the perennial problem of letting myself become over-committed. When we first moved here, I decided not to sign up for any committee for at least a year, and then only what I felt drawn to by my own interests and experience. I managed to do that for a couple of years.

I actually thought that when I retired, I would never need to face the challenge of being over-committed again. Ho. Ho. Talk about naivety. You see, it’s not just membership in officially registered Activity Groups; it’s that plus all the informal commitments to conversation groups, book clubs, and writers groups, the stuff that makes life so interesting. I can’t think of anything I want to drop out of.

But, enough is enough. I find that when I’m involved in a lot of stuff, even Good Stuff, life gets noisy and I begin to long for silence. I can forget my priorities and vocational calling. But that’s another subject.

I’m grateful for this community and all these good options.

It’s just that right now I need to figure out how to gently let go of some things.

And how to choose what to hang on to.

Please tell me how you do it.