Since I retired...

[Saint_Ann]

I am what I am and that’s all that I am:

I’m deliriously happy since retiring

I fucking hate canned spinach.

 

[thør]

I fucking hate canned spinach.

Canned asparagus is worse.

 

[storypost603]

I retired a couple of years ago. Wife retired about a year before me. I get to play on Lit all day and have really taken stock in my life. I realized I really want to experiment with things in my life and I could not get away with them before. I am still getting the courage to do somethings but I realize now is the time.

 

[Saint_Ann]

Saint_Ann --​

Retirement offers a chance to re-form yourself. Finding what makes you satisfied, developing existing interests or exploring new possibilities, giving an opportunity to create connections AWAY from what were needed for work.

Since I retired, I've volunteered and gone back to some of what I enjoyed in my first career -- avoiding the parts of that career that I could only grit my teeth over. I've been able to spend more time on politics than I could while working. And I've been able to devote more time to some physical activity -- interrupted, unfortunately, by a few accidents or body breakdowns that resulted in meeting more doctors, physician assistants, nurses, and physical therapists than ever before.

After one of those interruptions, I hit an all-time high weight. Now, I'm paying a bit more attention and losing weight. I've set an ambitious goal for a year-long effort. The initial push has me ahead of my expectations.

Yeah...I tried the lose weight/get healthy thing. Houseplants. Bird feeders. Raising & canning tomatoes. Learning piano.

I dunno. Maybe something will catch on.

 

[FGB]

To be fair to you, your ex-wives may have had a hand in all of that debt.

True, people are always willing to help you spend money even if you don't have it in cash!

Still...I knew and was raised better and didn't follow my own common sense and inner voice.

and I am still paying...

 

[Drizdart]

Yeah...I tried the lose weight/get healthy thing. Houseplants. Bird feeders. Raising & canning tomatoes. Learning piano.

I dunno. Maybe something will catch on.

What brought joy to you before you retired? Can you do more of whatever that might be?

 

[Lifestyle66]

...I don't really know who I am.

I'm a sex and porn addict. But isn't that why we're all here on LitE?

60+ hours a week is a lot of time to fill.

That might take a lot of lube. But I recently found out you can buy lube in 55 gallon drums!

 

[Nightspeed]

I lost my last job in February of 2007. I spent the next year living on savings and then that ran out. I was declared disabled in 2009 so working was over and done for me. But I still get excited about the approach of the weekend, even though it means nothing more than just another day on the calendar realistically. It just gets ingrained into a person, I guess. The first four or five years were the worst as I was fighting my way back out of a complete breakdown and feeling like I had lost my purpose in life. It got better, though.

 

[UtilityCurve]

Lots of colleges let seniors sit in a class for free. No credit but you do get to learn something that you're interested in.

Lots of museums have discounts for seniors.

State University of New York (64 campuses in 62 counties) offers free auditing for 60+.

 

[Saint_Ann]

This might be the first Friday...that's just another day.

If you know, you know.

 

[Drizdart]

Canned asparagus is worse.

canned lima beans ... the bane of my childhood dinner table.

 

[FL30]

canned lima beans ... the bane of my childhood dinner table.

I had nightmares of lima beans as a kid, one of the few beans that I hated with a passion - way to dry to eat.

 

[FL30]

State University of New York (64 campuses in 62 counties) offers free auditing for 60+.

Lots of colleges let you do that, no matter where you are, even if out of state

 

[LLCox]

canned lima beans ... the bane of my childhood dinner table.

peas

 

[DoctorSmith8]

I have found retirement to be a delight. On my final day at the hospital, I had an alarm clock smashing ceremony. The sledgehammer won!

 

[HampshireBoy]

Yeah...I tried the lose weight/get healthy thing. Houseplants. Bird feeders. Raising & canning tomatoes. Learning piano.

I dunno. Maybe something will catch on.

I know that I'm six months late replying, but better late than never right?

My wife was pretty busy running the house, as I was still working and she had effectively retired. When I retired I already had hobbies to get on with, we have a fairly large garden, I restore old motorbikes and old petrol lawn mowers (basically I like rebuilding engines etc), I've been getting on with woodwork (making items for garden and workshops), I dabble with painting and have restarted studying plus we travel a lot. The trouble is she hasn't found a hobby or interest that sticks, apart from me and traveling, so that plus her health means an imbalance in our aims for the day. She keeps looking and trying to find something that will grab her interest.

A long way of saying, keep looking - something will hopefully stick. Friends of ours are very active with U3A (I don't know if there is a branch near you), with studying, games or just socialising. Life is too interesting to spend it inside looking at your four walls, thinking "How do I occupy my time".

 

[Drizdart]

I know that I'm six months late replying, but better late than never right?

My wife was pretty busy running the house, as I was still working and she had effectively retired. When I retired I already had hobbies to get on with, we have a fairly large garden, I restore old motorbikes and old petrol lawn mowers (basically I like rebuilding engines etc), I've been getting on with woodwork (making items for garden and workshops), I dabble with painting and have restarted studying plus we travel a lot. The trouble is she hasn't found a hobby or interest that sticks, apart from me and traveling, so that plus her health means an imbalance in our aims for the day. She keeps looking and trying to find something that will grab her interest.

A long way of saying, keep looking - something will hopefully stick. Friends of ours are very active with U3A (I don't know if there is a branch near you), with studying, games or just socialising. Life is too interesting to spend it inside looking at your four walls, thinking "How do I occupy my time".

One quick way to find things to do .... figure out what you have spent money or time on, then find a way to do more of that ... helping others with what you are good at OR taking instruction or seeking help if you want to get better at that "something".

I went back to something I enjoyed in high school and college, helping with an activity that was nearly all I liked about high school.

 

[easyoff]

Since I retired I never wear clothes unless I have to go out.

 

[Beandip478]

When my lovely wife and I relocated to Idaho from Florida, it was with retirement in mind. We bought a ten-acre property with a home in a canyon. I will retire in twelve years and in nine years the land will be paid off and we'll be totally solar. We have a garden and farm animals and there are always things to do to keep us active and focused. I've always known who I am, and what I am is adaptable.

Sounds like paradise, bro, and the sign of a wise mind with foresight.
I fled one of America's big cities about ten and a half years ago, and now live in a big beautiful house on a retired farm, surrounded by pastoral scenes and rolling hills. I really don't know why anyone would wish to live in a city anymore, but that's a big subject, and of course, everyone has different needs and priorities.

 

[Erodicus]

Since I retired, I'm so busy having fun with people and things I love (some old, some new) that I don't know how I ever found time to work. Having more time on Lit is a bonus.