I love, love, love retirement. Mostly, I love the freedom to explore what interests me, to fill my brain with positivity instead of unhappy workplace noise. To serve our cat, Riley, with dignity and honor. To pre-heat his spa table for extra comfort. But I must say, I mostly love sleeping with no alarm to waken me.
With the help of medical cannabis, I sleep great, and being well-rested makes me feel and look better. When I went back to visit former colleagues recently, everyone said how great I looked, that retirement suited me. I said, yes, this is what sleep looks like. Sadly, I did have to get up at 4:30 a.m. on Monday. But don’t feel sorry for me. I needed an early start to drive to the mountains for a golf game.
I’ve relaxed a good bit since I retired last September. I keep checking the nest egg as though it’s going to go up in flames, but it’s still there, and just checking it periodically gives me comfort. I’m filling my time quite nicely. I read the entire series of Harry Bosch novels and watched the entire Bosch series on Amazon. My only regret is that I’m finished until something new is published.
Think of your first year of retirement as a test run. Poke around and see what makes you happy. See what sticks. I like to think we can find a balance of recreation and intellectual enlightenment. Retirement is actually jam-packed, and we will need to prioritize. I’m still working on priorities.
Doing
- Mastering the art of serving the cat
- Maintaining/remodeling house
- Walking about five miles a day
- Playing golf 2-3 days week, walking most of the time, making new friends
- Lifting light weights to improve my upper body strength
- Cooking
- Reading (taking advantage of the local library)
- Swimming a bit so I can build up to regular lap swims
- Blogging/consulting
- Wearing cuter retirement clothes (donated my man pants and other bad fashion choices)
To Do
- Take the light rail into the city and explore the urban scene
- Check out local museums
- Get serious about strength, flexibility and balance
- Pickleball?
- Volunteer in the community
- Get serious about training for a long-distance walk
- Find a new detective series
On the immediate horizon is a camping trip! We tent camped until we moved to Texas, where in the summer it never cooled off enough at night for decent sleep. We bought a small teardrop trailer (The Toaster) we could tow with our old Honda Element. It had an air conditioner and served us well, but it is no longer among the living. With cool Northern California nights, we are back to tent camping.
I’m also signed up for a business and industry educational seminar on cannabis. As you might guess, I’m excited about medical cannabis and eager to learn as much as possible. I’m counting this one as intellectual enlightenment, although there might be some recreation involved.
Getting here was not easy, but I am so profoundly grateful we were able to earn enough and save enough to make this life possible. Retirement is an amazing opportunity to explore the joys of life without the pressures of a full-time job. There are different pressures, for sure, but retirement is kind of like being a kid again and school’s out for summer.
How’s your summer going?
You seem to be finding your own stride. It took me quite a bit longer to get in tune with retirement. I ended up retiring quite a bit sooner than I had planned and it left me in limbo for some time. The last two years I’ve come into my own and I’m finally quite content with where I am.
\i think the best I can say is “Keep It Simple.” Do what you love and everything else falls into place.
Hi Judith — I understand it takes some people longer to adjust. But congratulations on being content now — such a great feeling, isn’t it? I like your advice, too!
Now you are retiring in just the perfect way. You can be as active as you want and cancel that golf game if you need to. I like it!