Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
One thing I am really looking forward to in retirement is not having to get up early. Would prefer to go to bed about 1 am and get up at 9. Many of my friends are "cursed" in that theyare unable to sleep late. Hope it does not happen to me. People can be rather judgmental of us night owls. I think they are just jealous!
Why "cursed"? Your preference is not better than theirs, and their preference is not better than yours. I do not judge you night owls; why would I judge you just because I am not one? Aren't you being as judgmental as you accuse others of being? I, for one, am not at all "jealous" of night owls because I don't see anything better about being one. Nor would I expect you to be jealous of me for rising early. We are both following what I presume to be natural inclinations.
My father used to make my mother conform to strict hours during retirement. She had to arise at 8:00 am during retirement or he would cast derision upon her, and he always coerced her into conforming thru some sort of shame.
He got up between 4:30 am and 6:00 am during retirement (a leftover habit from his working years) so he felt my mother MUST get up by 8:00 am because he had been up such a long time. I found it revolting.
(from a prior post)
That poor woman; she must have been a saint. Well, when I sleep late, I always say to my husband - "why didn't you wake me up?" and he says "I tried but you growled at me!" I am a very heavy heavy sleeper.
Go to bed at 8-9 p.m., wake up at 2 a.m., go back to bed around 4 a.m., get up again at 6-7 a.m. Being doing this for the past 4 years. Regular as, eh, clock work. :-) Not my choice -- my body just seems to love this schedule. And I get to see the sunrise in the winter. It all works for me.
My schedule gets turned upside down every weekend. All my life I have coveted the late night hours ...they were mine! It is one of the joys I look forward to on Friday nights ... staying up as late as I want and getting up whenever I am ready to.
I've never had a problem with it ... but other people have.
Currently, I stay awake reading, watching movies, doing crosswords until 3, even 4am... today I got up at 11:30am! This happened progressively over 2 yrs. No worries about it-kinda feels good-no schedule...
but has anyone else turned night into day after retirement??
I gave retirement a lot of thought before I retired. I decided we should get up at 7 am. We usually do, although I notice that sometimes lately we have been sleeping past 7:30. I felt that if we slept too long in the morning we'd turn into slugs.
We are up long before dawn - eat breakfast around 7:30 and we are off to our chores or day trips or volunteer work....I am not a sleeper so I am often awake from 1 to 4 each morning - then I sometimes go back to sleep and get up at 5:30 or 6. Rarely take naps but if I am idle for long during the day, I can drift off to sleep - so I try to keep moving....I don't like going to the movies for this reason - turn off the lights, make me sit still and I'm snoozing in no time usually - especially if the movie is a dragger.
Are you talking to me? Please read my post again - I have structure and routine, fun and obligations and what makes you think I don't have a hobby? Read again - slowly.
Who needs structure in retirement? That's what retirement is all about. We can make our own structure or non-structure if that's what we choose rather than having to meet someone else's schedule. I for one always hated having to get up at the same time each morning and going to bed at the same time each night so I could get to work at a certain hour. Those weren't my hours. Those were someone else's hours I had to adhere to in order to earn my pay. Now I can set my hours. Sometimes I wake up at 6:00 am dink around a bit and go back to bed and sleep until 9:00 am or later because I can. No time police in my house.
One of the perks of retirement is setting your own hours. Another is being able to take a nap if you want. Nobody's business what those are.
I'm with the get up anytime between and 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and go to sleep anytime between 1:30 - 4 group. My brother is the same way - doesn't get up before 11 or noon. Gotta be a family thing.
Feel guilty as all get-out, but I HATED working 9-5 - absolutely HATED IT. I was defeated before I walked out the door working those hours. Never really woke up before 1:30 p.m. and couldn't stand the go-get-em, early-bird, alpha-male bosses. For years, I worked nights 3:30-11 - perfect hours for me.
Problem with this type of biological clock is I can't really get the brain in gear to do any business - because most working people are done with their day by then.
Ex. Next week I have to get to the bank by 1:30 p.m., latest, to get some business done on a maturing IRA CD. Which is going to be very hard given how stupid bank personnel are these days, generally, based on my last few encounters. Not looking forward to that, at all - on two levels - early start and stupidity.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Obviously, a night owl here....
Currently, I stay awake reading, watching movies, doing crosswords until 3, even 4am... today I got up at 11:30am! This happened progressively over 2 yrs. No worries about it-kinda feels good-no schedule... 
