The answer to my question should be Yes, but it’s often No. I spent my adult life teaching in grades 7 through graduate students. Some days were fun and overall I enjoyed my four decades in classrooms. But some days were not fun. My wife also taught and we agreed that some days we had gone to school and some days we had gone to work – the latter being the less-fun days.

What’s the often heard quote usually credited to Mark Twain? “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Excellent advice, but like much good advice, not so easy to follow.

Since I retired from full-time work, I have been in what I call unretirement. (read about that here). That was about 6 years ago. I can’t pin down an actual date. It was a process.

Occasionally, I receive queries from other bloggers or websites who want me to use one of their posts on my blogs or include a link to them in a post. Sometimes it is just an attempt to get their link out there. Sometimes they offer payment to include their content. I ignore both of those. Sometimes they point me to resources and it catches my attention. That was the case with a recent email.

Tiffany from SixtyandMe emailed me to suggest a resource to add to my post about learning to unretire. his page. The resource is a page on that site about 9 fun part-time jobs for retirees that anyone can do.

My own definition of being unretired is taking on “jobs” that match my interests, time availability, and would be enjoyable. Getting paid is not the deciding factor.

I do some volunteer work that gets me into nature, has me involved in a poetry foundation, gets me to work at a film festival, and puts me in a food pantry and kitchen for people who need such things. Those are all non-profits and no pay – at least no payment in money. I also still do some work in web design for pay, but only web work for people that I support and enjoy doing.

Looking at that article of 9 fun jobs, I realize I am already doing several of them. Some of those jobs could pay you, but almost every paid job can be a volunteer job too. My last full-time and also part-time positions were both in instructional design. Those were paid positions and they paid well, but you can find on sites like LinkedIn opportunities to do that work as an unpaid volunteer for non-profits.

It is certainly a luxury that I can pick and choose what I do now and whether I will do it for pay. Not everyone has that luxury available to them, but I would recommend everyone consider doing some volunteer work at something they really enjoy. It’s good for the heart and soul.