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I loathe going to the gym, I wouldn't think of not going.
Sounds like you might benefit from changing your gym routine/workout to make it more enjoyable. WORKING OUT CAN BE FUN! If you keep it like it is, you're likely to keep loathing it. If you keep loathing it, you're liklely to give it up and stop going to the gym. I'm getting a sense that you really want to keep it up. Not knowing the specifics of your routine, I have no concrete adjustments to offer. If you care to share what your routine consists of, perhaps I might have some ideas that would make it more fun. I've been working out for more than 35 years...most of that time it has been fun, though I have gone thru brief periods of loathing my workout. Some simple changes usually renew my interest and alleviated the loathing.
blessings...Franco
I couldn't agree more! Most gyms have a huge variety of activities, from weights, to swimming, to yoga classes, or whatever might appeal to you. The variety can be great. Personally, I am really having fun with the weight machines right now. I do 17 of them (as well as a little cardio), and I love the fact that often I am ready to increase the weights on at least one of them so I get a feeling that I am making progress. If I get tired of them, then I will probably try water exercise classes next. Most women seem to love water exercise so I want to try it eventually, but I am "into" the weight machines right now.
A previous poster said to move to an area where you can do what you like doing. I like going to the gym, and want to live in a "walkable" neighborhood so that I can walk instead of driving most of the time. Luckily, such neighborhoods exist in many parts of the country, and many have gyms. If I am lucky, maybe I will end up close enough to even walk to the gym each morning!
Other than these fitness activities, what I really want to do is to putter about the house, read, and live a quiet, tranquil, healthy, and safe life. I think these desires give me the flexibility to prioritize factors such as cost of living, low housing costs, and low crime. Factors such as opportunities for hang-gliding, travel, or shooting the rapids are totally irrelevant for someone like me.
I feel sort of separate from the "average" person in 50s pondering retirement- if, in fact, there is any such "average." Certainly being coupled or not makes a difference. But I've also spent my whole life since leaving home at 18 doing different things- jobs/school/some travel/Peace Corps/play music badly/try this, try that... I feel like I've done most, if not all of the things I thought I might like to do, the kinds of things that a lot of people have not been able to do due to family obligations or marriages or whatever. I am also thinking I might just like a quiet life, adopt dogs, read, and turn on the a/c in the summer if I can't figure out a way to spend summers in Colorado. I never conceived of retirement when I was younger "You work until you die" and didn't understand money and all until relatively late in life. I wonder if I am listening too closelyto people whose lives have been constrained and will be freer in retirement, and maybe a baby-boom voice on my shoulder saying "You should want to travel" or "You should move here and there because you CAN." Been there, done that. I might be choosing that quiet life, too.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brightdoglover
I feel sort of separate from the "average" person in 50s pondering retirement- if, in fact, there is any such "average." ... if I can't figure out a way to spend summers in Colorado. ... I wonder if I am listening too closely to people whose lives have been constrained and will be freer in retirement, ... I might be choosing that quiet life, too.
I can relate to that... (all that...)
for Colorado summers, you might be able to combine your interests. (maybe not the QUIET part ) but there are many dude ranch and camps in Colo that use summer help and provide room and board. I'll just bet there are some that use dogs or dog training as a draw. Maybe for trials or for special needs training, but I would really dig for info on that option. I lived my first 28yrs in Colo, (near Estes) and really miss it... but not the summer crowds (I like quiet most often). There are some really nice areas in souther, central and North central that would be just the ticket for a nice summer (May - Oct)
Early retirement (@49, a few yrs ago...) was great, and now I'm able to go back to school, do a bit of traveling, (only when I feel like it rather than job related 26 wks /yr) and really get into the things I always wanted to do. I could use some major improvement on my piano skills, and that is a quest, but not a performance goal ... (I sure don't miss the annual evaluations )
I especially enjoy 'smelling the roses' of my desires... helping older folks with their needs, stopping to change someone's flat tire, going to chamber music rehearsals, getting season passes to concerts @ student rate, concerts in the park, cooking (and eating) big breakfasts (whenever you feel like it )
BUT>>> Advice... get your tasks done BEFORE you retire, as your time is more valuable to you AFTER you retire !! and options abound
I got over the desire to work at a guest ranch after my many wonderful vacations at San Juan Guest Ranch in Ridgway, CO- they worked those young folks real hard! No, i meant more how to work out housing, dogs, transport. I bought and sold a small house and also a lot of land in Ridgway, because I couldn't see how I could make it work. I'd like to feel part of a community (summer only?) and don't know how to do that, but then, I'm not real good at that right here at home.
I really want to see the big mountains, ride horses and be in dry air. After Labor Day, New England suits me fine.
I continue to think about all of it.
Hmm. Just went out on the front deck, looked up and over the lake and by George, our sky was still right where it's supposed to be, above us. Sorry about your sky.
Hmm. Just went out on the front deck, looked up and over the lake and by George, our sky was still right where it's supposed to be, above us. Sorry about your sky.
Hmm. Just went out on the front deck, looked up and over the lake and by George, our sky was still right where it's supposed to be, above us. Sorry about your sky.
That comment is unfair to the article because the article is not a "sky-is-falling" article like so many. Rather, it talks about the increasing financial difficulties that new retirees will be facing going forward, i.e., as they retire from approximately here on out. It does not suggest that people in our age group will be having those difficulties, not does it talk about or even hint at any sort of "collapse".
The real haven for the "sky-is-falling" articles and blog links is found primarily in two forums (as far as City-Data is concerned): Self-Sufficiency and Preparedness, and Economics. Of course we do get a bit of a spill-over into the Retirement Forum once in a while, unfortunately.
That comment is unfair to the article because the article is not a "sky-is-falling" article like so many. Rather, it talks about the increasing financial difficulties that new retirees will be facing going forward, i.e., as they retire from approximately here on out. It does not suggest that people in our age group will be having those difficulties, not does it talk about or even hint at any sort of "collapse".
The real haven for the "sky-is-falling" articles and blog links is found primarily in two forums (as far as City-Data is concerned): Self-Sufficiency and Preparedness, and Economics. Of course we do get a bit of a spill-over into the Retirement Forum once in a while, unfortunately.
Didn't bother reading it. Stopped at the "face declining standard of living" title. While no doubt true for some, even many, decidedly not universal. Didn't think it enhanced a 5.5 year old thread.
My usual advice to my children is do automatic withdrawal for IRAs, 401K (at least equaling the company match) and savings; live within your means while allowing yourself to enjoy life as well; and ensure you have a mortgage free home in which you would want to live when you retire to use as suits you best.
but other than that, I keep quiet and bite my tongue unless they ask me. Then I try to be honest and tactful. Whatever little wisdom I have was hard earned and like any parent I wish it easier for my kids. But they are as hard headed as I am; so they will be OK.
and that you are asking this question now shows you will be as well
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) but there are many dude ranch and camps in Colo that use summer help and provide room and board. I'll just bet there are some that use dogs or dog training as a draw. Maybe for trials or for special needs training, but I would really dig for info on that option. I lived my first 28yrs in Colo, (near Estes) and really miss it... but not the summer crowds (I like quiet most often). There are some really nice areas in souther, central and North central that would be just the ticket for a nice summer (May - Oct)
... (I sure don't miss the annual evaluations 
)
)
