Anna Redsand

It’s a new year, which, when you think about it, is really arbitrary because there are the Jewish New Year—Rosh Hashanah—Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese New Years, all on different days. The latter three come in the spring, which makes a lot of sense as buds on trees and early spring flowerspoking up among grass blades really give the feeling of newness. Maybe this New Year in the West is meant to give a sense of hope, hope that the dark days and the cold will eventually be over for another span of time.

In the meantime, the culture of the West suggests that we reflect on the past and resolve some change in the future. The big change that is coming up for me, and upon which I must lavish some effort so as to have everything in place by the end of July when my nice fat checks stop coming, is that I will be retiring. Instead of having a full-time job and two part-time jobs plus life, I will have one full-time and one part-time job plus life. How do I figure this?

My work at Cesar Chavez Community School is full-time. No doubt about that. And I currently write part-time, doing my best to market my existing book and make myself more well known, so I can get my next book on which I work part-time published.
Come August, I plan to write full-time and continue to market part-time. Are there more changes I need to make? I think that’s enough. Oh, one other thing, I’m going to start hiking again, now that I’ve lost 31 pounds and am still releasing weight.

My questions for you are:
1) If you’re not already “retired,”, what would you do differently with your life if you were? If you are retired, what did you change when you took that step?

2) If you have a favorite hiking trail/spot, where is it, what’s it like, and how long (hours or miles/kilometers) is it?