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So because you have one friend who sprawls on the couch all day, all retirees who don't LOVE it and find it AMAZING must be lazy. Got it.
Otterhere, you are so confusing. You have crafted this narrative in your mind that there are people who hate retirement AND instead of rectifying that situation, they've chosen to just sit there hating their life and doing nothing about it.
It's a simple equation. If you want to work, then just work. If you want to retire, then retire.
However, retirement can't be bad because people are in 100% control over their retirement. Just do the stuff that makes you happy.
So because you have one friend who sprawls on the couch all day, all retirees who don't LOVE it and find it AMAZING must be lazy. Got it.
No, you clearly don't get it, and--no--I don't think that this applies to all retirees. Obviously, I don't know ALL retirees, so I certainly couldn't comment on all retirees. That is why I stated, "I can't quantify it", and I specifically stated that "some people are lazy or totally lacking in motivation".
Did you actually read what I posted before reacting?
Do you know the meaning of "quantify"?
I can't quantify it, but--yes--some people are lazy or totally lacking in motivation.
I have a friend whose days consist essentially of sprawling on his sofa for hours at a time, watching movies--interspersed with an occasion foray to the store to buy more prepared food. He says that he doesn't have the time to cook anything anymore.
He also says that he is frequently bored.
When the first of my colleagues retired, I can recall asking him about retirement, and he said something along the lines of... I just don't know how I got everything done during my working years, and I feel the same way. I outline a weekly agenda that is invariably longer than is practical, and I enjoy being able to cross-off the various tasks/chores/errands as I complete them.
With the exception of checking my emails and some forums while I drink my coffee and/or while I eat lunch, I never seem to sit down during the day due to my ambitious daily agenda. How someone can get bored during retirement is beyond me.
Really? You can't understand that while making lists and checking off tasks satisfies you, for many retirement is a time to not have assigned tasks to complete, even if those tasks are self appointed? The limitations of the past year have certainly not made things easier. I'm not at all convinced that unmotivated and lazy are synonymous. But I understand "judgemental" when I see it - "ambitious" is not for everyone, especially when their working days are done.
No matter how much you plan, you can wake up one day and change your mind. I did.
I had planned for retirement by increasing savings, made my major house updates, and paid off my mortgage. I had enough saved outside of retirement to not have to take SS until I was 67, and Retirement RMDs at 70. When the time came in 2016 (earlier than I expected because I hated my new supervisor); I thought I was ready. I did a lot of traveling, then took varied personal interest courses. I earned a one year certificate in teaching English as a Second language. I volunteered teaching and testing ESOL students. Qualified for Obamacare too with a low cost Gold Plan. But I changed my mind about how I wanted to live my life.
I became frustrated with how I (and others) were regarded as a volunteer: an older retired person with nothing to do, so they could order me about and treat me like an unpaid employee. My opinion didn't count. That didn't sit well with me. I didn't say anything. I also felt like I was waiting to die somedays when I was alone with nothing to do or nowhere to go and the phone was silent. I began dreading coming home from vacations because I had with no real purpose; noone and nothing to come home to. I was too young for these feelings. Retirement was supposed to be a happy time.
Then in early 2019, I saw the RN Nursing Refresher course listed in my Community College Catalog. Tuition Free for those 60 and over. I was 60 and in good health! Here was a chance to take the Nursing Refresher Course for free! What did I have to lose, it would give me something to study and devote myself to. I got excited. I had swore I would never be a nurse again, but now, it seemed the perfect solution. I get retrained, and then the doors of nursing opportunies were open. Maybe I'd travel nurse. The course took 3 months from June-Aug 2019 and I did great.
I had not worked as a nurse since a moonlighting job that ended in 2006 (I'd been in the corporate world for 26 years). I was nervous about getting a hospital job at my age but it didn't take long to find one. In Dec 2019 I started my new job on a busy Med Surg Telemetry Floor. Age 61. I was so proud of myself for setting this goal and finishing it. My two sons age 35 and 37 were thrilled for me and said this was exactly what I needed to do--get back in the game. I sounded happy again.
It hasn't been all Roses, (I worked through the Covid crisis unscathed), and I ***** and moan about how today's nurses are treated. My job is hard. I have learned so much. I push around a computer as I do my work. I switched to part time in March, two 12 hour nights per week, as that was the perfect retirement schedule. I consider myself retired. This is definitely a retirement job. I get paid well (well its not pharmaceutical money , but still decent). I get a chance to interact with nurses of all ages, and have even helped advise a few on some personal issues. They call me Ms. (My first (name). And I am not the oldest nurse there!
I see threads here debating on what Retirement is and isn't. Its whatever you want it to be. If you don't work great. If you do work for necessity or pleasure---you do what you gotta do.
I'm all for retirement being whatever you want it to be. If that's a second career, or revival of a past career, that's great if you do it because that's your preference. For me, retirement is the time you get to do the things you love WHATEVER they may be.
I'm all for retirement being whatever you want it to be. If that's a second career, or revival of a past career, that's great if you do it because that's your preference. For me, retirement is the time you get to do the things you love WHATEVER they may be.
People who don't understand those who enjoy working can't help but look down their noses at them, for some strange reason. Maybe, just maybe, it's due to a positive trait (industry, thrift, or a penchant for organization) rather than a negative one (pessimism, inner emptiness, lack of imagination). Either way, I don't understand why judgement invariably enters into it. You can rhapsodize about how you LOVE retirement (you know, because it's AMAZING) without insulting others in the process.
Um, he/she was responding to my post and I'm wondering why you took that meaning. From my perspective, I specifically said I don't judge anyone. Just because I don't understand how someone could be bored during retirement doesn't mean it won't happen to me. Just because I have an idea about what it could mean for me, doesn't mean it doesn't mean something else for everyone else. No insults were intended -
Quote:
Originally Posted by otterhere
...and now we're lacking in motivation (sigh).
Again, I didn't take that meaning from his post - to wonder why someone might be bored is actually a good question to explore. I could see how making a list on daily tasks or reminders could help you stay on track when time is a different concept in retirement (if you decided not to work). Or that which motivated you yesterday does not motivate you today. I think you're getting a lot of negative out of this when it wasn't that way at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by otterhere
So because you have one friend who sprawls on the couch all day, all retirees who don't LOVE it and find it AMAZING must be lazy. Got it.
Examples aren't relative? You're really sensitive about this subject - I really do think the basic message here in all the posts, is that retirement means something different to most everyone. I was expressing what it meant to me - I expressed some of the feedback I've gotten from others, who were older than me, who said they didn't want to retire. I'm sorry if this doesn't compute with me and my life - my job is extremely stressful and we're not allowed vacation for the first six months of every year - I live my life with deadlines and am watching it tick away, in two week increments. I'd like to NOT have that hanging over me in retirement - I do plan on being lazy - which to me probably means something different to you. I also plan on a lot of other things but not knowing the future, one can only imagine what it will be like. I have examples in my family that are kinda great so yea, I look forward to my time belonging to me. What's wrong with that?
If you wish to continue to judge people, at least be correct. On topic would also be appreciated.
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, but still decent). I get a chance to interact with nurses of all ages, and have even helped advise a few on some personal issues. They call me Ms. (My first (name). And I am not the oldest nurse there! 
