What do you do? This is often the first question we ask when we meet someone new. But how do you answer that when you’re no longer working full time? This week, I ponder the right catchphrase to sum up who I am now.
Welcome to the 181st edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a quote of the week. Along with my catchphrase, this week’s edition looks at incentives for heat pumps, teenagers tackling plastic waste, and supporting cancer charities with used bridal wear.
On my mind this week: Who I am now
A couple of weeks ago, a former colleague posted a terrific article on LinkedIn. In Out of Office: The Blank T-Shirt, Richard Rees tackled the awkwardness that can sometimes set in when people who are retired introduce themselves to others.
Several years ago, when I was still employed full time, I wrote about my dislike of the question, “What do you do?” When I meet people, I try to say “Tell me about you.” or “What are you up to?” instead, but old habits die hard.
Many people associate retirement with the end of our useful and productive life. Since leaving my full-time job two years ago, the word retired just doesn’t feel like it adequately describes my life. Before I left my job, I said I was “reinventing.” Now I tend to say I am “retired-ish”. But who I am in 2026 is so much more than that.
This was driven home when I recently attended an event of the professional association that I have volunteered with for many years. During a conversation with a colleague I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, she asked me what I was doing to keep myself busy. When I started rhyming off various things I have on the go, she said, “You clearly have no trouble filling your days.”
This got me thinking about how we introduce ourselves when we’re working, and how that changes when we leave our full-time careers behind. I’ve come to the conclusion that I need a catchphrase—something short that sums up who I am now.
What do I do all day?
As I thought more about this, I started making a list of all the hobbies and activities I have on the go. In my daily life, I am a:
- Blogger
- Writer
- Singer
- Choir leader
- Alpha course leader
- Reader
- Avid walker and fitness enthusiast
- Environmentalist
- Declutterer
- Word puzzler
Add to that list the relationship-based roles I play: wife, mom, neighbour, daughter, sister, friend, aunt.
Plus, I am still dabbling in the professional realm as a retirement coach, and board and committee member for my professional association.
Searching for a catchphrase to sum it all up
I have a lot going on, yet when people ask me what I’m up to, it’s hard to find the right words. I’ve been pondering a catchphrase or tag line that sums it all up in a few words. Here are a few options I came up with:
- Exploring all life has to offer
- Feeding my curiosity
- Growing and exploring
What do you think? Does one of these stand out to you? Would you suggest something else for me?
Next weekend, I’ll be in New Orleans delivering a retirement lifestyle workshop. Maybe I’ll try these out with people I meet and test the reaction.
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Quote of the week
The days ahead are an open book—write boldly, laugh often, and never stop exploring.
Samuel Brooks
Three highlights of the week
It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:
- On Monday, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at our niece’s house. We enjoyed an abundance of food with terrific company. When we came home, we went for a long walk to work off all that lovely food!
- Dr. Kerry Burnight reshared my LinkedIn post with my review of her fabulous book Joyspan. If you haven’t read it, check it out. This book should be required reading for life!
- Homemade soup season is here! Earlier in the week, I made a huge pot of cabbage roll soup. I substituted lentils for ground meat to make it vegan.
Things I learned this week
Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:
Canadian government offers incentives for heat pumps
In recent years, we’ve been seeing a lot more heat pumps around our neighbourhood. Heat pumps can both heat and cool homes by transferring heat from the outside air into your home during winter and reversing the process in summer to cool your home. Heat pumps are energy efficient because they move heat instead of creating it. And they don’t run on fossil fuels.
The Canadian government recently introduced a program offering $2 billion in incentives for homeowners who install heat pumps to replace other heating systems at the end of their life.
This is welcome news from a government obsessed with oil and natural gas pipelines.
(Source: CBC News)
Teenagers take on plastic waste
The Unplastify Challenge is a global movement that challenges teenagers to design and implement solutions to reduce plastics in their schools, communities, neighbourhoods, and homes.
Initiated by the Latin American social enterprise Unplastify and funded by the National Geographic Society, the movement has worked with over 3,000 students at 400 schools in 25 countries. Together these students have come up with over 1,000 strategies, leading efforts to avoid an estimated 72 tons of plastic.
(Source: Reasons to be Cheerful)
Used wedding dresses support cancer charities
As we observe Circular Economy Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I was delighted to learn of a shop in nearby St. Jacob’s that sells used formalwear and donates the proceeds to cancer charities.
Gina’s Closet takes donations of used wedding, prom and bridesmaid dresses and other formal wear. Run by volunteers, they resell the items and donate the money to local cancer charities or the Terry Fox Foundation.
I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.
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Love the teenagers taking on plastic waste! That’s awesome. Glad you had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I like all your catchphrases so I can’t wait to hear the results of you trying them out! Travel safely!
Yes, it is so inspiring to see young people taking action. I also see a lot of seniors taking on environmental causes. Maybe if we work at it from both ends, we’ll make a difference.
Thanks, Wynne.
I always learn at least one new thing from your blog posts + comments. I love this idea: “it’s more important to be useful than youthful.” I have no opinion about your possible catch phrases other than the observation already made in other comments that none of these three embrace/reflect your environmental passion and the tangible steps you continue to make towards a more sustainable life here on planet earth. So many people remain in denial about what’s happening (glaciers melting! major sources of water no longer flowing abundantly! wildfires and global temperatures rising!) and continue to live with the same norms and hopes and expectations and goals we grew up with regarding personal travel, consumption, lifestyle, etc. You are someone who is actually thinking about these challenging subjects AND helping others to think about them (and perhaps even make wiser choices and set wiser goals as a result…) None of your potential catch phrases even hint at this profoundly important part of your life. ps: Hurrah for the new Canadian heat pump incentives!
Thanks so much. This is why it’s so hard to sum up what we do without geting into a long list of things. I’ll keep pondering. 😂
I love all three of your taglines! Mind if I borrow them?
Feel free!
It’s funny how societal norms shape the way we interact with our professional identities and the norms that still exist about aging and retirement. I love the way you reflected on this and listed out all your daily tasks – to show that there is life thriving beyond the societal definitions of work.
Thanks, Ab. I once heard someone say it’s more important to be useful than youthful. That really stuck with me. Attitudes are changing, but ageism is still prevalent in many areas of society. It’s so important to be intentional about how we spend our time—in all stages of life but especially as we age or we risk reaching the end of our lives and regretting all the things we didn’t do.
Great insight, persecutive and approach!
I hear you, Michelle! It’s hard to come up with that pithy little phrase when we encounter new folks — especially when the interaction’s brief.
I love your approach, “tell me about you”…if only others would adopt that open-ended query. So invitational, right???
When I think of you, I automatically think “writer and consultant” or “writer and retirement coach”. I gave up on “blogger” because people, I’ve found, either largely don’t understand or minimize what it involves. Of course I also love “environmental educator” for you, too!
Thanks for this relatable post! 💝😊💝
It really is difficult, especially for those of us who are sort of retired but dabbling in many things. I agree that unlike “what do you do”, “tell me about you” doesn’t tie our worth to a job title or profession.
And yes, “writer” captures what we do so much better than “blogger”.
I’m going to give some of these a whirl at the conference I’m attending next week. Stay tuned!
Enjoy your Sunday, Vicki! 🤗
Thank you, my talented writer friend! Happy Sunday back to you! 😊💝😊
I like your first option “exploring…” Michelle. It shows how open you are to new things and the concept of curiosity as well. Best of luck at the conference.
Thanks, Deb. Yes, it’s so important that we not lose our sense of curiosity as we age. There’s always something new to learn and explore!
I think some people get hung up on a pressure to constantly be doing, and going and exploring to fulfill some social ideal of retirement. I never want to stop seeking or learning but I don’t feel bad at all if I’m choosing at times just to relax, sit, ponder life then and now… I don’t always have to have a next goal but at least be curious enough to speculate about what might be out there 🙂
That’s a great attitude, Deb. Yesterday, for example, I did nothing other than read a book for most of the day. That’s the beauty of our stage of life. We get to choose how much—or how little—we do on any given day.
Absolutely Michelle 🙂