You’re retired, now what (do you do with yourself)?

[cafe67]

Hi all, 

 

inspired by a recent post about retirement , I thought I’d ask. 
 

I retired in July at 57  , earlier than I had intended , but after 40 years of work,  I’d had enough and still wanted to be young enough to enjoy it and of course it’s been great, don’t have to get up so early , come and go as I/we like, dog loves it, stereo never been played so much.
 

but I’m wondering does the euphoria wear off and boredom set in and what do people do with themselves after retirement.  
 

holidays are nice, but health issues within the family impinge on that at the moment.  
 

cheers DC 

Edited November 25, 2024 by cafe67

[Jakeyb77_Redux]

I retired in 2019 at 42

I spend my days in the garden. Walking the dog. Visiting family. Most days l take a drive to a shop and get nice things to cook. 
I watch something on YouTube be it crime documentaries or DIY tips, or stream a movie. 

Work on my cars. Play guitar. 
Wednesdays I take my son to his basketball coaching. 
Before we worked we could fill our days easily. You get trained at work to not think about all the things you’d rather do. It’s just a matter of revisiting or finding hobbies that you like again. 
In my 5th year now and I have had times that I’ve been a bit despondent but it passes. I still have dreams of high pressure days at work and wake up saying thank God I don’t have to do that anymore.

 

Edited November 25, 2024 by Jakeyb77_Redux

[Mendes]

29 minutes ago, cafe67 said:

but I’m wondering does the euphoria wear off and boredom set in

A strong no from me Dave, it's been 2 1/2 years for me now, and loving that I am living my life on my agenda.

 

Keep busy, make lists of to do stuff, prioritize the list, find like minded people to hang with, cross things off the list - GSD.

Challenge yourself with new things - if not now - then when 

 

 

 

 

[legselevens]

Perth being much smaller than Melbourne it will have less going on but still worth a look and you might even decide to start your own group. Cycling groups are popular.

https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/find/au--perth/

[Andythiing]

Great thread — 2019 for me at age 52 - largely driven by health and family reasons - I think Covid and a few other personal issues made my initial years a bit different- but I’m still so glad I stopped working when I did - best decision for me and my family (my wife is now the bread winner and I’m confident that she also believes it’s been the right call - that’s what she tells me at least)

 

Yes some ups and downs but overall no regrets at all 

[awayward]

Four workdays to go for me, and I have no idea what I will do with myself (yet), at least I have the option to just go with the flow.

[Mendes]

1 minute ago, awayward said:

Four workdays to go for me, and I have no idea what I will do with myself (yet), at least I have the option to just go with the flow.

Congratulation's - well earned I am sure

[Batty]

8 minutes ago, awayward said:

Four workdays to go for me, and I have no idea what I will do with myself (yet), at least I have the option to just go with the flow.

Well, you have a stereo, so you can play with by yourself LOL

[Mendes]

1 minute ago, Batty said:

Well, you have a stereo, so you can play with by yourself LOL

Yes, our hifi can be sanity saving, particularly when its cold wet winter and full on hot summer outside.

[awayward]

2 minutes ago, Batty said:

Well, you have a stereo, so you can play with by yourself LOL

Already listen to around 20 hours of music per week, who know’s what it will be from next week, just need to ensure that my hearing will last the distance.

[cafe67]

1 minute ago, Mendes said:

Yes, our hifi can be sanity saving, particularly when its cold wet winter and full on hot summer outside.

Except now there’s more time, to check out other toys 

[Mendes]

Just now, cafe67 said:

Except now there’s more time, to check out other toys 

Well....................yeah, like I said...... if not now - then when

Ain't a dress rehearsal 

[bob_m_54]

It may sound boring to some, but if you're interested in your family history, try a bit of genealogical research. I spend (too many) hours scouring the web and genealogical websites tracing family ties.

 

To add to this, if you have old family photos, inherited from relatives, digitise them and try to catalogue who is in the photos. It may be easy for you to work out who's who in the pics, but your kids, and their kids may be interested in them in the future.

 

I left it too long and now have very few people left who can help with identification of the people in the pics, but have found other relatives online on some of the genealogical sites, that have the same photos or similar pictures, and that has helped a lot.

 

As a result of my obsess interest, and realising last year that I have never been back to the country I was born in, and left when I was three years old, we did a trip to England a couple of months ago. I spent my 70th birthday in the town where I was born... (no yellow submarines though). We stayed in a hotel that was run by my grandmother's sister for 40 years in the early part of the 1900's. We had dinner and a few beers in the pub my grandmother grew up in from 1908 till she was 19, and found most of the pubs run by other members of the family between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Sadly only a handful still operating as pubs.

 

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing my dad's cousin, who is 93 years old, and realising that she still remembered myself and my brother and sister, when we were very young kids.

 

Something else you could try, as we found out my father did as a hobby in his retirement, is when you buy a product that has not lived up to your expectations, write the manufacturer a letter, and let them know. We found dozens of letters in my father's papers doing this, all neatly filed with the replies offering monetary compensation and/or a selection of their products delivered to him. Baked beans with too much juice and not enough beans, fruit and nut (not dad's fruit'n'nut) chocolate that had all nuts and no fruit, etc, etc.. Even dog food that his dog now refused to eat because it had changed since he last bought it.

 

Something that cracked me up the other day was finding out my grandson did the same thing when he got a packet of biscuits that had one less biscuit than the previous packet he had bought. He's still waiting on a reply..

 

Or you could just write rambling posts to forums that tend to be all over the place, and go nowhere, like I just did..

 

Enjoy your retirement..

 

 

 

 

 

[awayward]

One of my favourite sayings, it may look like I’m doing nothing to you, but doing nothing means a lot to me!

[Keith_W]

I will be retiring very soon. I have many things on my to-do list, mostly learning new skills. The more I delve into what else I would like to do, the more I realise that as long as men are involved, hobbies turn into obsessions. 

 

For e.g. I want to learn gardening and grow my own vegetables. That's when I found out that lawn mowing is actually a hobby. Did you know that people drag planks on their lawn, then get on their knees to look for sunlight peeking out from under the plank? They do this to see if the lawn is level. If it's not level, they fill up the gap with sand and let the grass grow through it. After many months of doing this, they will have a perfectly level lawn. Then of course they check if their planks are flat by referencing it against a flat surface, and some stick spirit levels on their planks. 

 

Doing further research into it, I found out about aquaponics. Grow fish in a tank, then use the waste from the fish to grow veggies with a hydroponic setup. Once again you find nutjobs who are not too different to us in their level of obsession. These guys can discuss pumps, filters, water quality meters, diagnose issues with mineral and pH deficiencies, etc. 

 

There are so many interesting things I want to do. Like a home distillery, home workshop to make my own furniture (and finally own a home with nothing from Ikea in it). You could learn to paint and sculpt, learn to 3D print, hobby engineering (I want to make a steam engine and put it in a model boat) ... so many things to do. I don't think I would live long enough. 

[David A]

I'm a late bloomer and am about to turn 54. To me 50 seemed like the new 30, so yeah no plans for early retirement. I've got many dreams I want to fulfil yet and a lot of living to do before then. As long as i'm doing what i'm passionate about, and it doesn't seem like work, i'll keep going. I'd like to get married and pass on a successful business to my children one day. As Robert Frost said "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep".

 

I think the key to a healthy and happy retirement is to keep enjoying what you're passionate about in some way, stay active and keep fit (incl: getting out in nature as often as possible), travel and discover new places, challenge yourself to learn new things, and stay connected to your family, friends and community. I feel that last point is very important.

[bob_m_54]

9 minutes ago, Keith_W said:

(I want to make a steam engine and put it in a model boat)

 

[StereoNET]

8 minutes ago, Keith_W said:

That's when I found out that lawn mowing is actually a hobby. Did you know that people drag planks on their lawn, then get on their knees to look for sunlight peeking out from under the plank? They do this to see if the lawn is level. If it's not level, they fill up the gap with sand and let the grass grow through it. After many months of doing this, they will have a perfectly level lawn. Then of course they check if their planks are flat by referencing it against a flat surface, and some stick spirit levels on their planks. 

 

Doing further research into it, I found out about aquaponics. Grow fish in a tank, then use the waste from the fish to grow veggies with a hydroponic setup. Once again you find nutjobs who are not too different to us in their level of obsession. These guys can discuss pumps, filters, water quality meters, diagnose issues with mineral and pH deficiencies, etc. 

 

Oh, I thought both these interests of mine were normal!

 

I retired from working for other people (except you lot!) around 10 years ago. It was the first good decision.

I'm a long way off retirement still, and easily work 80+ hour weeks these days, but I plan an earlyish retirement too (currently 46). 
We recently bough a 1 acre block nearby, backing onto national park to build our next home. It all revolves around a lof of landscaping, and a big shed - two of my other interests that I intend to do a lot more of, and start winding down the work once we eventually move in (2+ years).

 

My parents and inlaws have retired over the last few years. They've never been happier. One set went for the country air and property, the other went for the sea change. I reckon they've never been busier, but they're happier than they ever were!

[proftournesol]

Planning on retiring in 2027. Most of my contemporaries have already or are retiring, but as I've never ever worked 5 days a week (well, not since 1994) I have the energy and curiosity to continue a few more years. I'm planning a second part-time career as a home energy assessor, providing free services to low-income families. In between that, there's music, coffee, cycling and gardening. I also plan to convert what is currently an overgrown boggy paddock back into a native wetland.

 

Not enough time, and still too many toys to buy though.

[Keith_W]

52 minutes ago, StereoNET said:

I retired from working for other people (except you lot!) around 10 years ago. It was the first good decision.

I'm a long way off retirement still, and easily work 80+ hour weeks these days, but I plan an earlyish retirement too (currently 46). 
We recently bough a 1 acre block nearby, backing onto national park to build our next home. It all revolves around a lof of landscaping, and a big shed - two of my other interests that I intend to do a lot more of, and start winding down the work once we eventually move in (2+ years)!

 

At the show we got into a discussion about what happened to your fish. You got as far as telling me that they all died when you had a power failure when you were on holiday. Are you planning to get back into fish? I think you said that you kept fish as pets and not for eating. I plan to rear fish for eating and I have been doing some research on it. It seems like a lot of trouble and very high up-front cost, not to mention that fish grow very slowly. About 2 years from fingerling to harvest. So I would have to keep doing it for many years to break even. 

 

Regardless, I am more interested in the hydroponic veggies. You simply can't buy good veggies. Sometimes I might luck out and find great tomatoes at a farmer's market but that's not common. I am fed up of supermarket watery tomatoes and tasteless greens and I want to grow my own. 

[Andythiing]

It’s a pretty tough gig - not sure which job I should be doing

 

ps I’m house/dog sitting for my eldest daughter who is holidaying in Vietnam- I’m supposed to be finishing off some renovations for her - not going to well - I keep getting distracted 

Edited November 25, 2024 by Andythiing

[StereoNET]

11 minutes ago, Keith_W said:

At the show we got into a discussion about what happened to your fish. You got as far as telling me that they all died when you had a power failure when you were on holiday. Are you planning to get back into fish? I think you said that you kept fish as pets and not for eating. I plan to rear fish for eating and I have been doing some research on it. It seems like a lot of trouble and very high up-front cost, not to mention that fish grow very slowly. About 2 years from fingerling to harvest. So I would have to keep doing it for many years to break even. 

 

That's two different hobbies. Marine Fish was a hobby, and an expensive one once the power outage killed them all off. I just maintain a small Cichlid tank these days.

 

But I also helped a friend set up an entire and very complex aquaponics system about 6-7 years ago. It was actually amazing, and were I not armed with the knowledge it was all 100% natural and organic, I would have sworn that there were all sorts of chemicals in play. But if you are going to go down this path, start with some pet fish first. Learn the basics of water chemistry and husbandry before even considering aquaponics!

 

Marine fishkeeping has become very expensive to run/maintain with today's power prices.

On the freshwater side, I have friends who have run hatcheries and involved in native fish breeding programs, and I certainly don't think you would have the space or scale to be able to raise fish for eating. They had farms with big ponds, and BIG sheds with big tanks. Runnings costs are very high, and most do it out of passion. They get a little return on selling fingerlings etc. But if you are not planning on doing that, you'd be much better finding a good fish market, or better still, take up fishing!

[psychometrics1]

In my retirement since 2019 I am balancing my hifi, music and red wine hobbies with a part-time PhD and volunteering. Certainly not bored! 

[doogie44]

Let's be clear--retirement is an invention, just like daylight saving, peak hour, and simultaneous orgasm (OK, I made the last one up). Think back to the time when you were little, and just living in the Now, enjoying life as it is, as the beautiful being you still are. And never could be anything else. As Bob Adamson says: Being - Presence - Awareness. Still true.

 

It's only the mind that imposes a list of doings and conditions on your spontaneous nature. That's why it doesn't really matter how you spend your time (although we 'think' it does). Just so it 'sparks joy' (thanks Marie Kondo).

 

As Eckhardt Tolle says: "There is no past--only a series of moments in the Now that used to be; and there is no future--only a series of moments in the Now that haven't happened yet". Ponder this while you're retired, like me.

 

In my Now there is always a lot of great music.

 

 

[andyr]

7 hours ago, cafe67 said:

Hi all, 

 

inspired by a recent post about retirement , I thought I’d ask. 
 

I retired in July at 57  , earlier than I had intended , but after 40 years of work,  I’d had enough and still wanted to be young enough to enjoy it and of course it’s been great, don’t have to get up so early , come and go as I/we like, dog loves it, stereo never been played so much.
 

but I’m wondering does the euphoria wear off and boredom set in and what do people do with themselves after retirement.  
 

holidays are nice, but health issues within the family impinge on that at the moment.  
 

cheers DC 

 

Fascinating post, Dave!    And such a variety of responses.

 

Retiring at 57!  Wow!    I couldn't afford it at that age - but, at 70 ... I decided I was sick of working to implement stupid decisions made by f'wit managers.

 

That was 5 years ago.

 

Since then ... life has been 'cruisy'!    Plenty of great things to occupy my time - including a lot more time spent walking / going to the gym than I could achieve whilst I had to also work.  And making stuff ... which keeps me from being bored.

 

The only stress in my life now ... is that my wife also retired 6 months ago - so now I have her for lunch ... as well as 'till death do us part'!