first commitment

On leaving my job, a lot of time suddenly freed up. I've worried that other people will see that time as a juicy opportunity - for them or for their organizations. My time could get eaten up very quickly if I let it.

Aside from getting substantial exercise every day, seeing friends, and cooking dinner, I've hesitated to jump into other time or heart commitments. I'm trying to avoid a "rebound" relationship with work, disappointing myself and others.

I've been going through the process of signing up for one piece of volunteer work, mostly because it's with an organization that does something important, takes its work very seriously, and is well organized.

The time commitment is eight days of classes plus the time need to pass a test, and working a minimum of four hours a week over a ten week period. The job is preparing taxes for low and middle income people through the AARP tax aide program - me and about 40,000 other volunteers. If you know me very well, now would an appropriate time to laugh - I'll wait.

The joke is that I've never prepared a tax return in my life. I'm not too worried about learning the ins and outs; I've learned very hard things before. I'll struggle for a while and absorb the information I need.

My local coordinator said just last night that the challenge comes in dealing with each person asking for help, and I suspect I'll be ok with that. After all, for years I was a technical writer charged with convincing people all over the Asperger's spectrum to give me information. I had to translate that information into something helpful to a person who was desperate (desperate enough to read the documentation) and pissed off, not necessarily in that order.

It sounds like there's a lot of support for newbies. In my first year, assuming I'll like it enough to go for a second year, I'll be more of an assistant to experienced tax preparers. I may get some easy returns thrown in my direction, but they'll be checked by a colleague. As I develop confidence in my abilities, I'll be allowed to take on more difficult work. It's likely that I'll work in several towns, just to get a flavor for the town-specific issues that come up.

I'm also thinking that a lot of this work will happen in the dark of winter. Now that I can see the outdoors during a lot of the day, I'll be noticing just how dark it is during our chilly times. I figure that getting out and about will be good for me.

So that's my first cautious step into the world post-work. I've had some other ideas, but those will have to wait until I'm more ready for a greater commitment.