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Well, I certainly can arrange my schedule however I like and make more time to read/research, so I probably cover a wider range of topics at more depth than when I had limited time. I wouldn't say my interest level is higher, but I have more time for tangents.
I also decided to take up and instrument now that it is easier to schedule in the daily practice.
Since I retired I have become much more intellectually curious. I now want to know about everything. My interest and knowledge of varied topics continues to grow. I spend hours in the library. Read lots of books and spend hours googling topics to learn about them.
When I was working my only real interest was my job and family. I was shallow.
Can you relate?
I've always been curious and interested in many things all my life, mainly because of my father and mother. They introduced my sisters and me too many subjects: music, gardening, camping, photography, astronomy, God, our heritage, reading, world travel-- to name a few. But while I was working, I had little time to pursue all of them. Now that I'm retired I'm re-introducing them to myself one by one....well not astronomy. lol
I have always been curious and learning is my life long habit.
Now that I am retired, I have more free time to do whatever I am interested in be it hiking, rowing on the river, trying new recipes, flying, traveling, reading books, surfing the web or watching 'art' movies.
With rowing season about to start again, I just ordered a dozen or so books on rowing, sculling, coaching to add to my collection. I also got few more books on bird watching, bird habits, bird DVDs, bird song CDs to get more deeply into bird watching after almost 30 years break in the habit. I did the same thing for all the subjects and activities which I was involved or interested in be it hiking, scuba diving, flying, cooking, biochemistry, anthropology, archaeology, microelectronics etc.
I have never considered myself an 'intellectual' or possessing intellectual curiosity. I am just a curious person. I think that being curious is an innate trait of primates just like this baboon in the Namib desert ;-)
BTW, I have not known anyone who suddenly change their curiosity level or interests upon retirement. People just have more time in retirement to do the things they want to do instead of having to do.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzsilk
I've always been curious and interested in many things all my life, mainly because of my father and mother. ... Now that I'm retired I'm re-introducing them to myself one by one....well not astronomy. lol
actually... as a work group, we helped a soon-to-be-retiree build a motorized telescope mount / chair.
They moved away (to get better star / night skies) so, we need to 'travel' to enjoy our efforts, but the retiree has used it for hundred of hours.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,726 posts, read 58,067,115 times
Reputation: 46190
Lots of great EDU, Arts, Travel clubs, and continuing learning going on in the 'retiree' locales that are home to US National Labs! (Often very nice locations too!)
No. I have always been an avid reader, writer, and information hound. I just have more time and a mind free of stress and fatigue now. Life has always been about the joys of learning for me.
Lifelong learner here too, just more time to investigate things that interest me in greater depth now. Stress and fatigue has faded away, replaced by energy to fuel the curiosity.
I've been an intellectual since high school. Retirement has only accelerated my interest, and given me the time to follow it.
In fact after I retired my interest in developing new skills and new projects is going exponential!
Knowing I have less time left has increased my desire to leave a lasting impression on the world. My current project for this summer is an attempt at a novel. If not that at least art. If nothing else I'll have something to hang on my walls.
My iPad was the best $1K I ever spent! I'm a member of 7-8 libraries in 3 states and read about 20 novels/month, most of them free.
I satisfy my factual interests using the Internet and Google.
I definitely read more now that I am retired, but I also keep up my professional work skills.
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