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The curious thing is on my table that the three people who had my job before, who are now retired, they're dead. So that route of someone to talk to is out.
Nobody can answer that question for you. Some will tell you it's boring, nonproductive and how much they miss working. Others will say it's wonderful and wish they'd done it sooner.
I message a friend every day. We chat about nothing important.....things like what we’re fixing for dinner, or the latest political outrage. She and I go back 40 years when she filled in for me at work when i was on maternity leave for my baby who is now 38. We are the same age and have had a lot of the same experiences. I can message my kids too, but they have better things to do than chat every day.
Venting on C-D helps too.
My suggestion is find someone, anyone, who you’ve known for a long time, and keep in touch with them. It could be a high school friend you lost track of. I suppose it could even be a stranger who shares an interest.
I message a friend every day. We chat about nothing important.....things like what we’re fixing for dinner, or the latest political outrage. She and I go back 40 years when she filled in for me at work when i was on maternity leave for my baby who is now 38. We are the same age and have had a lot of the same experiences. I can message my kids too, but they have better things to do than chat every day.
Venting on C-D helps too.
My suggestion is find someone, anyone, who you’ve known for a long time, and keep in touch with them. It could be a high school friend you lost track of. I suppose it could even be a stranger who shares an interest.
I do have one friend, non retired, a woman I check in with twice a day (since I am out here on the frontier) and the good thing about her is.......she is highly non political! Just a little, yes, but for the most part, no......unlike some of my other retired friends.
Which, I suppose, may be a problem for me with others since I don't want to talk politics. Long story short, there is too much fury, too many BP points tied up in to it, too much excitement without solving anything.
However, that said, you do touch on a question I constantly ask of "What do the retired people do?". It's rather like the Ben Sargeant cartoon of Inaruguration '77. Jimmy and Gerald are in the parade when Jimmy asks what does the President do? Gerald outlines the official duties when Jimmy says, "No, I mean, after you get up in the morning, what do you do?".
The grand plans such as being gored by a water buffalo in Kenya, dying in a plane crash approaching Hong Kong, that a crazed, jealous woman shoots and one drowns in a swimming pool.....or the living side of that, is not what I am talking about but more like, A and B.
A: You get up in the morning, what do you do?
B: How do you find the motivation to get up in the morning in the first place?
Should one have a detailed plan of what they are going to do each week, what the daily day will be like, before they retire?
I retired almost twenty years ago. I am so happy I did. It's not that I've achieved anything particular in these past years, but they were my time.
My time to share with my husband. My time to travel and have adventures. My time to visit places and stay a long time, moved to cities in Europe for a while. My time to anything I wanted! Now, as I am older, everything is just a little bit more difficult. So glad I started retirement in my fifties.
The pandemic has damped that enthusiasm but at least I didn't have to worry about losing my job! My income is unchanged and since I've gotten my covid shots, I'm raring to go again.
The best person to talk with is in the mirror. Go for it.
I retired almost twenty years ago. I am so happy I did. It's not that I've achieved anything particular in these past years, but they were my time.
My time to share with my husband. My time to travel and have adventures. My time to visit places and stay a long time, moved to cities in Europe for a while. My time to anything I wanted! Now, as I am older, everything is just a little bit more difficult. So glad I started retirement in my fifties.
The pandemic has damped that enthusiasm but at least I didn't have to worry about losing my job! My income is unchanged and since I've gotten my covid shots, I'm raring to go again.
The best person to talk with is in the mirror. Go for it.
I am not sure about the mirror for that approach, for me, is multipersonality or sort of like when Logan was being interrogated in "Logan's Run".
In more local terms, I have a loner life, the person I am usually talking to is myself. HENCE, I am asking for outside sources of information.
But on that particular point, that is certainly one thing I want to avoid and that is becoming one of those people who fall into GROUPTHINK, either of their own world or those they hang out with. In my life experience, the best way to avoid that is to become part of a science team....does anyone do that in retirement?
I do have one friend, non retired, a woman I check in with twice a day (since I am out here on the frontier) and the good thing about her is.......she is highly non political! Just a little, yes, but for the most part, no......unlike some of my other retired friends.
Which, I suppose, may be a problem for me with others since I don't want to talk politics. Long story short, there is too much fury, too many BP points tied up in to it, too much excitement without solving anything.
However, that said, you do touch on a question I constantly ask of "What do the retired people do?". It's rather like the Ben Sargeant cartoon of Inaruguration '77. Jimmy and Gerald are in the parade when Jimmy asks what does the President do? Gerald outlines the official duties when Jimmy says, "No, I mean, after you get up in the morning, what do you do?".
The grand plans such as being gored by a water buffalo in Kenya, dying in a plane crash approaching Hong Kong, that a crazed, jealous woman shoots and one drowns in a swimming pool.....or the living side of that, is not what I am talking about but more like, A and B.
A: You get up in the morning, what do you do?
B: How do you find the motivation to get up in the morning in the first place?
Should one have a detailed plan of what they are going to do each week, what the daily day will be like, before they retire?
When I get up in the morning I wash up, get dressed and have breakfast. My wife calls me at 10AM. I have some things I want to do (like my tax return right now or some household chores) but mostly it is unstructured. My time is very much my own. I go to bed around midnight, listen to my internet radio with headphones, and go to sleep around 1:30AM.
Being retired is a lot like being on summer vacation from school when you were a kid. What you do is up to you. You can go for walks, exercise, do chores, have pets, watch tv, read, surf the internet, pursue hobbies, cook, shop, meet or talk on the phone with friends and relatives. I've been fully retired 12 years. I've had a few hobbies I get into deeply for a couple of years or so then move onto something else. This past year has been less interesting due to being isolated for covid. No restaurants, visiting with friends or family. We did a lot of travelling on vacations before we retired. Didn't have any desire to travel after we retired. We did downsize to a smaller house on a larger lot about 45 miles south of where we lived in Staten Island. We like the house and yard and neighborhood and privacy and quiet. We hire people to cut the grass, blow the leaves, clear snow from the walk and driveway.
One thing to realize is enjoy your health while you have it. By the time you get into your 70's you potentially face a storm of maladies, which may limit your choices of what you can do and enjoy.
You need a plan to replace three items which your employment provides: Socialization, Purpose, & Identity. No wrong answers, but you need a plan for activities which will provide these items to be happy in your retirement.
I volunteer at a Living History Museum, have expanded my participation in a variety of Car Clubs (mostly virtual now), and am building a Vintage Formula Car.
I am having a great time in Retirement!
My wife plans to retire by mid-year but has done zero planning for her retirement life, even while watching me plan diligently for my post retirement years during the last 18 months of working!
I fear my life will turn to **** because she has failed to plan.
My wife and I have been retired together for 12 years. Not everyone needs to plan. My wife is perfectly happy doing what she wants when she wants. So am I. It's important to have your own lanes when you are with someone all the time. We do a few things together, like eat dinner together every night and watch some TV shows together in the evening, but for the most part we do our own thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MI-Roger
You need a plan to replace three items which your employment provides: Socialization, Purpose, & Identity. No wrong answers, but you need a plan which will provide these items to be happy in your retirement.
I volunteer at a Living History Museum, have expanded my participation in a variety of Car Clubs (mostly virtual now), and am building a Vintage Formula Car.
I am having a great time in Retirement! My wife plans to retire by mid-year but has done zero planning for her retirement life, even while watching me plan for my post retirement years during the last 18 months of working!
I fear my life will turn to **** because she has failed to plan.
Well make sure you will be okay financially and then each day you can do whatever you want
Depends on your personality. I am in my stay at home phase.
I went through a gardening phase etc. Volunteer phase blah blah blah
You just go with the flow.
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