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I was never bored while working my career, and since I have entered that phase where I devise my own schedule (AKA retirement), I am even MORE never bored.
I have found, though, that people who are curious about the state of suspended work identity, are not people I seek for company. They tend to seem, well, bored.
I did not put off doing things that interest me until "retirement." So, it's hard to articulate that like I always did, I travel, read, garden, farm, create and retail, befriend, wine and dine, etcetera, etcetera. Perhaps some of that has moved to a different time slot. Maybe I was lucky to have a creative career............but, it's still a Moveable Feast.
I don't know how to put that across to people who ask that confusing question.
The way I look at it, if you're bored in retirement, you can go out and do something about it. If you're bored at work, you're pretty much stuck with it. Heck, when I retire, some of my plans may be to do nothing on some days, and if I don't finish it that day, I can always complete it the next day.
You missed my point. The point isn't that those things are "good" or "bad." The point is they are different and if the stereotypical retirements that potential future retirees are reading about and discussing sound foreign to them, they may be afraid of leaving the workplace (which is not always just about work), trying to fill their days and finding friends.
The more I think about this, maybe the answer to the person who asks what you do all day is to tell them to join a retirement forum like this one so they can read about all kinds of retirements.
How many here have friends with an entirely different retirement than you have?
Maybe not good or bad but certainly not all the same. I have several friends in retirement right now. One has enough money to travel, has her own house and is set for life. She is happy with here activities and interests. She is single by the way. No dog but she has a cat.
Another friend is on a fixed income. lives in an aprartment and can't afford most things but she is really happy not having to work any longer and volunteers a lot.
A third friend is on a disability retirement so her income is very severly restricted. She too volunteers and finds lots of things to do within the scope of her physical abilities.
My sister is retired and very well-off. Her husband still works because he has a great job that he loves. She can afford to do anything she wants. Her husband travels for part of his job and is just fine with her doing that or whatever strikes her fancy. Yet of all my retired friends mentioned here she does the least. She is the sit at home and read person.
I guess I just don't get the difference you describe between those who have a lot when they retire versus those who don't other as far as activities and keeping busy go other than the former hs more money to persue their interests. The the people with less funds still go out and play within their own means if that's what they choose to do. They do not spend time reading about what they can't afford or what others may have.
Ever since DH and I retired people who are still working are always asking us, "But, what do you DO all day long?" as though surely we must just be sitting around gathering dust. The next comment we often hear is something like, "I could never be retired, I'd go crazy with nothing to do." Maybe it's only me, but after hearing this so often (for the past 6 years) I'm beginning to feel as though it's a very rude question. It wouldn't occur to me to ask them to justify their 24 hours every day.
I find that a flippant humorus reponse works best. I tell anyone who asks me (and they never do ask again! ) is to look at them with a dead level smile and say.......
Well, ya know I get up in the morning with a full complement of nothing to do and if I work hard at it I might just possibly, with luck, get half of it done!
Last edited by Grandpa Pipes; 06-04-2010 at 04:50 PM..
I don't get that question, either. I am still working, and I see people here hanging on who could retire and say they don't because they are afraid they will be bored.
I am NEVER bored. There are not enough years left in life to read all the books I want to read, walk all the places I want to walk, write the stories I want to write or WHAT EVER.
And it will be so nice someday to be able to sleep until my body wakes up naturally, not because my cellphone alarm is shrieking that damn jingle at 5 a.m.
I take a tip from politicians and don't answer the question that was asked. Instead, when people ask me what I do all day, I smile and say "I can't believe I ever had time to work!"
Great response....There is not enough time in the day to do all that I would like, going to work would be like a rest....BUT since that's NOT happening I am giddy about the multitude of options available to my wife and me in our retirement. Don't need buckets of money to be happy either! I smile an awful lot
Great response....There is not enough time in the day to do all that I would like, going to work would be like a rest....BUT since that's NOT happening I am giddy about the multitude of options available to my wife and me in our retirement. Don't need buckets of money to be happy either! I smile an awful lot
Yeah, some folks never planned much and now may be thinking about the prospect of work until you drop being the order of the day. Most educated people do some future planning starting in their thirties and some even younger, growing old is almost the only thing a person can count on. I worked until I was sixty two, a fellow I worked with told me he could not think of enough stuff to do to keep busy in retirement so he will work as long as he can, he was seventy four at the time.
I couldn't believe how many people didn't see the wisdom in saving a good portion of their pay, I don't mean those who rarely earn thirty or more thousand a year, I was working for a very high paying company and still a lot didn't save. I wonder if some of the perceived animosity from those asking the what do you do all day line isn't about a bit of envy. I'm always amused when asked the "question", I usually respond with a smile and say something about just being happy I don't have a Job, or offering them some pity for the fact that they do. I have sensed some degree of moralizing from some folks who have come to see retirees as being lazy, non contributing, overpaid and underworked, oh well, back to my afternoon nap now,zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
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The the people with less funds still go out and play within their own means if that's what they choose to do. They do not spend time reading about what they can't afford or what others may have.
) is to look at them with a dead level smile and say.......
