WHAT RETIREMENT? THE "RETIREMENT JOB" THAT KEEPS ME YOUNG!

52 weeks on Substack, 52 great life stories, and I'm not done yet! Thank goodness for my journals!

A few months after my retirement from full-time work in early 2023, I realized I had a lot of items on my “to do” list, from home improvement tasks to creative endeavors, but wasn’t getting much of anything done.

I wasn’t hard on myself…I had earned the time to relax and waste away a day or two here and there if I felt like it.

But I wasn’t feeling any sense of accomplishment, which is something I think all people hope to have in their lives.  So I decided to start setting deadlines for myself.  First on that list was to continue writing.

What was I to write, though?  TV scripts?  Done that.  A movie script?  Done that.  A novel?  I don’t have the patience for a project that big.

Having read columns by a number of writers on Substack, including high school classmate @ClydeYoshida I thought a weekly story about events in my career, travels and hobbies would be fun.  Short enough to keep a reader’s interest, but long enough to have a meaningful message, if that would be my intent.

So at the end of June 2023 I started writing my first column, with the goal of posting something new every Thursday morning.  This week marks my 52^nd column.  One full year’s worth of chapters from my life.

Before I started, I thought ahead and made a list of experiences I thought would be interesting.  It numbered 10.  As I started looking back in my journals to get material on those ten, I’d see other things that had gone on in my life that had been long forgotten.  My list grew to 20.  The more I’d go back in my journals, the more stories I wanted to share.  I hadn’t thought I’d be able to keep it fresh for so long.

This endeavor would not have been possible had I not kept journals, off and on since high school but nightly since my senior year of college.  It turns out that writing a personal journal is more than just a form of therapy allowing you to share your feelings, triumphs and worries.  It is a personal record of your life and a gift to yourself in your old age, after memories fade and when it’s immensely satisfying to recall heartwarming moments from your past. I started my first journal in 1972, at 15 years of age, on a trip to the East Coast in a small blank book given to me by my beloved grandfather, Joseph Friedman.

Of immense satisfaction to me was meeting iconic actor Charlton Heston in the late 1980’s.  His book, "The Actor's Life: Journals 1956-1976,” was the number one thing that convinced me to write nightly rather than occasionally more than ten years prior.  I knew even in my youth that if I would have any great success in my life’s work, I’d want to write about it, and Heston’s book proved to me that having a contemporaneous account would be vital.  His book is simply a collection of entries from his journals during the years he was making so many great movies. I heartily recommend it.

I shared my story with Heston, telling him how much his book had been an inspiration to me, and he was gracious in his response.

Look back at my columns and let me know which you enjoyed most.  Working backstage with Donny & Marie Osmond?  Writing questions on “The Newlywed Game?”  Playboy Mansion parties?  Getting hired (and fired) at KUSI?

Now, as I embark on a second year of writing, I wonder the same thing I wondered at the beginning.  How long can I pull episodes from my life that are interesting to readers?  Should my columns include writing original commentary about things other than my own personal experiences?  Travel stories ala Jack Kerouac or Charles Kurault?  Movie or theatre reviews?

Let me know what you think in the comments below. 

Regarding journaling, I do recommend it heartily. Classical pianist Jeeyoon Kim, in her weekly email blog, writes about the benefits of journaling:

People retire on their memories. When you’re too frail to do much of anything else, you can still look back on the life you’ve lived and experience immense pride, joy, and the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia.

Experiences keep on giving in the form of fulfillment through your memories. Over time, the ongoing memory dividend can sometimes add up to more experience points than the original experience provided.

Of course, unforgettable memories live in our hearts. These can be captured in the form of videos or photos, which I take all the time as well. For me, however, the best way to capture the joy of seemingly mundane daily life and its unique offerings is by writing.

Jeeyoon’s five tips for journaling are 1) there is no minimum amount you have write, 2) you need to be honest with yourself, 3) look for a story-worthy moment of the day, 4) write from a stream of consciousness, and 5) try using old-fashioned pen and paper. To subscribe to Jeeyoon’s blog, go here: https://sparklp.co/cbabf513/

Thank you all for reading any or all of my 52 columns.  I’ve reached close to 20,000 views in my first year. To my paid subscribers, thank you for signing up and I’m grateful that you enjoy reading my columns.  To my free subscribers, thank you as well.  Do consider becoming a paid subscriber at any level, no matter how small.  In the coming year I plan to publish bonus materials exclusively for them (including no-holds-barred comments on celebrities I’ve worked with that I’ve held back on writing about so far).

And remember, it’s never too late to start a journal of your own.