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Wondering how you feel about your retirement days. Are they full of joy, or do you now find yourself without adequate funds to enjoy all your spare time.
I think finding the right place to live is so very important. Where we live now there is not a chance of becoming bored.
We can go to the beach, walk the boardwalk, head to a show, or go off to visit Charleston. That is just a short list. I find this SC area awash with things to do.
We are taking another cruise soon to the southern Virgin Islands. I don't like that the stops are short but we do enjoy each one and the chance to have "some" time there.
Perhaps we will fly to one and stay a longer time as the future rolls along.
I wonder what makes you all happy as the retirement time comes upon you.
Do you plan to drive off into the sunset and see your USA?
Sometimes, do you feel it is too late as your health is declining?
I find happiness in my time with family. Our special days together at gatherings and social events.
The extra's come with hobbies and travel.
Wondering how the rest of our CD people are exploring this time of their lives.
Wondering how you feel about your retirement days. Are they full of joy, or do you now find yourself without adequate funds to enjoy all your spare time.
I think finding the right place to live is so very important. Where we live now there is not a chance of becoming bored.
We can go to the beach, walk the boardwalk, head to a show, or go off to visit Charleston. That is just a short list. I find this SC area awash with things to do.
We are taking another cruise soon to the southern Virgin Islands. I don't like that the stops are short but we do enjoy each one and the chance to have "some" time there.
Perhaps we will fly to one and stay a longer time as the future rolls along.
I wonder what makes you all happy as the retirement time comes upon you.
Do you plan to drive off into the sunset and see your USA?
Sometimes, do you feel it is too late as your health is declining?
I find happiness in my time with family. Our special days together at gatherings and social events.
The extra's come with hobbies and travel.
Wondering how the rest of our CD people are exploring this time of their lives.
From what you say it seems as if you're just killing time until you die. Talk about an utterly boring existence.
Happy in Wyoming : What the? Who got your shorts in a knot? Sounds like you are jealous of the wonderful retirement the OP is having. They have found things to do, places to go, don't have to work, have a beach plus enough good health to do these things. Apparently you do not otherwise you wouldn't be so negative. I think your post is so demeaning. What is it you do in your retirement that does not rank as "boring". Please let us know.
I enjoy waking up knowing that I don't have to go to work.
I am finding more to do every day as I become accustomed to my time being my own. My public library is a good source of activities. I go to a book club meeting there which I enjoy very much. I play scrabble and do crosswords online. I have a deck full of plants and a compost pile hidden from view where I nurse cuttings and plants I find in the marked down bin.
In short, I do all the things that I didn't have much time for when I worked..... and I do them at a leisurely pace.
I traveled throughout my life and enjoyed it. I no longer enjoy airports and airplanes. I like planning and thinking about doing things as much as I use to enjoy doing things.
I'm interested in history as a way of understanding current events. Its nice to have time to read.
I talk and correspond with anyone who's willing (and pleasant). I have a little dog who is a fine companion.
Health issues are aggravating, but so far, do not keep me from enjoying life.
Seems to me the OP really has it good. I think real fun is hard to find. The nearest I come is to take myself to the local water park and ride the lazy river. I also went to a comedy movie today with a former co-worker.
I'm not retired yet but also found the OP's activities to sound enjoyable, the beach, travel, etc. But now I am really curious as to how Happy in Wyoming spends their time. Please tell.
Happy in Wyoming : What the? Who got your shorts in a knot? Sounds like you are jealous of the wonderful retirement the OP is having. They have found things to do, places to go, don't have to work, have a beach plus enough good health to do these things. Apparently you do not otherwise you wouldn't be so negative. I think your post is so demeaning. What is it you do in your retirement that does not rank as "boring". Please let us know.
The post is about aging, not retirement. I have a business; I have investments. I have the constant company of my pets, two dogs and a cat. While the OP is walking on the beach in the heat I'm still able to enjoy my intellectual faculties. I just reread a great book that I first read a number of years ago in an earlier edition. Come to think of it, that's the second reread in the last few months of new editions of great books.
I haven't spent my whole life seeking intellectual stimulation to spend my last years as an ambulatory turnip. I've probably read at least another hundred or so books this year ranging from mysteries to science and technology. I form reasoned and rational opinions.
I don't walk aimlessly or take trips to tropic hellholes that offer nothing but more of the same weather and scenery. If I go hiking or take a trip I have a destination and a purpose. I read about places, both near and far, before I visit them.
I haven't watched television since I started high school; I demand way more.
Location: Prescott Valley,az summer/east valley Az winter
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Depends on where I am. Yes, I play cards ( teach bridge) and board games. Do jigsaw puzzles at the center here in CS. In Az I play cards (teach bridge) , do my yard art thing, have the time to read , Yes, I do watch some TV. Also got to Chinese new years, do G scale railroads, go to AZ mitzuri, have my national park pass, ride scenic tourist railroads, and basicly do as I please. I'm in Colorado when its 100+ in Az and in Az when its snowy and cold in Colorado. What more could I ask for in retirement, surely not a schedule I couldn't break if I found something more interesting to do!
Winters are pretty boring where I live so when we can, we drive down to Virginia and stay with my sister for a few weeks. She's at work all day so we help her out with little projects around the house and have a good meal waiting for her. Of course my two nieces are there.
For the rest of the winter there's a monthly garden club with speakers, library, I do genealogy on my own, trips up to shopping outlets in Maine, train into Boston occasionally, swim a few days a week at the Y--but mostly winter is boring. Play with the dog, read a book, cook good hearty winter foods.
Summer is short here so go to the beach often, work/play in the garden, especially messing around with the perennials and making hanging flower baskets, visit local historical museums and sites, eat at outdoor cafes, visit people, take pictures, I volunteer to take photos of old gravestones and upload them to the internet, go for walks, work on the house. I have a metal detector and I intend to use it this summer--I always had this closet interest in archaeology. Lots more in summer; the list of things to do is too long in summer. Every few weeks I take a drive up the gorgeous coast of New Hampshire and often venture just into Maine. That NH coastline is breathtaking.
Maybe that's just me, but I rarely feel joy, if ever. Although, I have in the past.
And I suppose it is how one defines joy. But I still think actual joy is hard to come by.
And should actual joy be a goal in retirement? I think maybe not. A more reasonable goal might be contentment, satisfaction, enjoying certain things, intellectual stimulation, pursuing what interests one at one's own pace.
I cannot imagine "days full of joy" which Summering inquires about. Unless one were in a perpetual religious rapture of some sort (sort of just kidding) but I'm not religious so that will never happen.
I have experienced some joy being at the ocean and beaches. I should probably try to move to a beach area. I looked into it 3.5 years ago, but couldn't find a place I could afford and that was not subject to hurricanes.
And if truth be told, I think all retirees are killing time until they die, in a certain sense. I remember when my Dad retired, he said to me "Now I wait to die". He was only half-kidding. One can certainly have enjoyment along the way if lucky.
Last edited by matisse12; 07-10-2013 at 05:59 PM..
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