Full and Pressing Agenda

Having retired in New York I go out to theater, typically, six to seven evenings each week; and sometime I visit museum exhibitions and galleries during the day or meet a friend for lunch. During the second half of August, as the theater was slow, I had more evenings at home than usual, sometimes three or four evenings in succession.  For a few days I enjoyed the easy pace, cleaning the apartment, organizing the books, generally relaxing, and, above all, having a leisurely dinner without having to rush out to the theater.  But it didn’t take three evenings at home to find myself feeling tired and indolent.  Even after a good night’s sleep, I became sleepy during the day, and I started dozing at the table not only after lunch and dinner but even after breakfast with the indispensable mug of strong coffee.  I sometimes dozed at the computer, too.  If I open a book, I would last three pages at best.  In the second week, to pull myself out of the doldrums, I went to museums in order to be out during the day.  Hiking six hours one day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I home exhausted but I found myself more alert in the evening.  I then realized, not that I didn’t know it unconsciously, that I need a full and pressing agenda, day by day, to keep myself fit physically and mentally.  I must be what is known as an inveterate workaholic even in retirement. Yes, I know.