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Find a job, they are out there. I've retired twice, once at 62 and again at 64. Hated it both times and now work 40 per week and love it. Health is better, mind is sharper, and the money is nice too. I originally wanted only a day or two a week, but it grew to 5 days because I work hard at it. You can find one too, if you sell yourself.
Retirement isn't all it is cracked up to be.........I know too many people who retired and died a little while later.
So true. So many in my family didn't survive the boredom of retirement for long. I quickly adopted the idea that I would never, wholly, retire.
My grandparents maintained a garden and sold excess at the curb. My grandfather made venison sausage from what his nephews hunted. My grandmother made canned & pickled foods. My uncle, a woodworker, made & fixed things for relatives and neighbours and sold things on consignment at a local thrift store. Those, in my family, that retired and just "watched tv" didn't live as long.
There are many posters and threads on the retirement forum lamenting the same thing: "I'm bored and don't know what to do with myself. Give me some ideas." Ironically, these posts/threads reflect the answer their own question. They say, "I need to be entertained and to have someone else tell me what to do." My suspicion is that many of these folks worked for years in jobs where they simply performed the same routine over and over...or depended on someone else to define their daily work. Instead of working to accomplish goals or projects, they only worked for a paycheck.
In retirement, the individual is the "boss." They are responsible for setting goals and objectives - and then figuring-out how to accomplish them. For those without 'boss experience', a good place to start is a self-assessment of the things, activities, tasks and endeavors in which one has found a sense of satisfaction (These can be small components of larger projects and efforts). Then, by grouping these 'pieces' together, one can start searching for activities that include these things. (Most large library Reference sections (as well as high schools and colleges) also offer Occupational Aptitude Testing to help one find occupations where workers have similar interests).
It's a big world and there is a niche for anyone who is willing to take a little responsibility for finding satisfaction and contentment in their own life.
There are many posters and threads on the retirement forum lamenting the same thing: "I'm bored and don't know what to do with myself. Give me some ideas." Ironically, these posts/threads reflect the answer their own question. They say, "I need to be entertained and to have someone else tell me what to do." My suspicion is that many of these folks worked for years in jobs where they simply performed the same routine over and over...or depended on someone else to define their daily work. Instead of working to accomplish goals or projects, they only worked for a paycheck.
In retirement, the individual is the "boss." They are responsible for setting goals and objectives - and then figuring-out how to accomplish them. For those without 'boss experience', a good place to start is a self-assessment of the things, activities, tasks and endeavors in which one has found a sense of satisfaction (These can be small components of larger projects and efforts). Then, by grouping these 'pieces' together, one can start searching for activities that include these things. (Most large library Reference sections (as well as high schools and colleges) also offer Occupational Aptitude Testing to help one find occupations where workers have similar interests).
It's a big world and there is a niche for anyone who is willing to take a little responsibility for finding satisfaction and contentment in their own life.
I think most of the people here have been in positions where they were the "boss".
What they are looking for and what we have been told all our lives is that entertainment/happiness should be spontaneous.
So - the point is when you retire that you should have a purpose for your days? It might be volunteering or learning a new language or working at a paid job - but not just wake up each day with no plans for your time?
So - the point is when you retire that you should have a purpose for your days? It might be volunteering or learning a new language or working at a paid job - but not just wake up each day with no plans for your time?
My feeling is that if you have no "purpose", no goals, no passions, no enthusiasm, then you are just killing time until you die.
How does someone retire and have nothing to do? What did you do all your working life, besides work. You must have had weekends off. Surely theres activities you did and enjoyed? Now you can even spend more time doing them.
Find things you like to do, and then do them.
That. I can't even imagine having a couple of hours free every single day.
I swear the older I get, the busier I am. Very much looking forward to retirement!
I retired a couple years ago and still don't know how I got all the things done that I do when I was still working.
The only thing I'm doing more of now is goose hunting. When I was working I only got out Saturdays, school holidays and a personal day I'd take at the end of the season. Now I can go 3 or 4 days a week.
One change I finally did after I quit was realize that I didn't have to do so much on weekends, I now could do things during the week.
First of all, start thinking of yourself as an individual. You being retired has nothing to do with your wife still working.
Think of yourself as being a separate viable individual with interests of your own. Don't think of needing your wife to entertain you or to keep you busy.
Cultivate a bunch of interests. It's pretty crucial to have interests in retirement or one starts to languish.
Your post focuses on how you are having trouble not being in contact with other people during the day, which having a job had provided - yes, having a job automatically gives daily human interaction - and adjusting to the new reality of not having this automatic human interaction can be one of the biggest hurdles in retirement - maybe try going to where people are actively doing things and congregating - coffee shops, parks, sports games etc. - along with developing a set of interests.
Last edited by matisse12; 02-04-2017 at 04:06 PM..
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