My last day of work - a day I have been actively counting down toward for the past 5 years, is Thursday. Five days from now. I have been at my place of employment for 36 years. I’ve been in the workforce, counting my 5:00 paper route, since 1972.
My biggest priority will be to maintain/improve my health. Without that, nothing else will matter. I re-joined a gym today, which I have not been a member of since pre-covid. I am also scheduling medical stuff; nothing major, just routine tests and appointments that so easily become overdue and back-burnered when one is working for a living.
Aside from that, I have a variety of hobbies and interests that will occupy my days. And perhaps a nap now and then.
I’ve heard it said that if you wake up to an alarm you are not getting enough sleep.
I’m so happy for you! It took me about a month to stop feeling guilty for not working. It took my former employers two months to quit calling and texting me to ask how to do something.
Way to go! I remember my countdown and my last work day. Absolutely no regrets here, almost 9 months into it. I’m not doing all I hoped, mainly due to a nasty cancer diagnosis, but I am enjoying what I do and never feel bored or useless.
Congratulations; I remember my last work day (happened to be Halloween) and I never looked back.
However, I don’t believe this quoted bit is true. When I retired, I immediately turned off my alarm and got up when I woke up. I found myself gradually getting up later and later every day, and I didn’t like that, it felt like too big a chunk of the day was gone before I got out of bed.
My solution was to set the alarm for 30 minutes later than it had been when I was working, and then snooze as many times as I wanted, at 10 minutes per snooze (usually 2 or 3, occasionally only 1). I always get enough sleep, without lolling in bed “too long.”
What I also found was about the lack of urgency to get things done. When I had bigger household projects during my working life, I had to accomplish them on the weekends and/or in the evening, or in extreme cases during vacations, so there was no procrastination. Now I can work on them any time, so I noticed that I would keep putting off projects because I could always work on it tomorrow. I don’t have a solution for this except to put myself on a schedule that is written down and hold myself to that.
Congrats! It will amaze you how easy it is to fill up all that work time with stuff you actually enjoy doing. My hobbies have actually expanded so much that I spend less time on each hobby. Enjoy and stay healthy.
The better solution is to cross the project off your list and forget it ever existed. You’ve already demonstrated you don’t really want it done; you just had an “I ought to …” belief about it. IMO “ought” has no role in retirement. So now act on the decision you already made.
I’m not quite retired yet, only 5-1/2 months to go. But retiring “ought” is something I’ve been practicing to good effect the last year or so.
What has worked for me is to divide my list of routine projects into Spring and Fall. In Summer and Winter I don’t even think about them. This year Spring has four goals. One is done, one will happen this Monday and the other two will be done by the end of April. I find it easier to get motivated when I know that once they are done, I’m free from projects for four or five months.
I retired as of January 1 and am struggling with this also. I’ve got several big projects that really need to get done (windows, garage roof, etc.) and have pushed myself to get started on one big thing at a time. Thus, new windows & back door should be installed next month.
I’m still struggling with sleeping in too much and getting better at routine housework. I’m also making lists because it really helps me when I can see chores in writing and then cross them off. I tried a weekly/monthly housekeeping schedule but that didn’t work for me.
Our last big project starts in April, the Kitchen. It is expected to take a month. It will be a bit brutal. I’m really trying to keep on top of this.
Hopefully I have everything lined up. I even have a plan where to store things, a temp Microwave station in my little office, coffee station in my wife’s office/guest room. A space in the Living room for the Fridge and a narrow shelving unit. By waiting until April, at least I’ll be able to grill a lot. But already planning on going out a lot and ordering a lot.
I timed my retirement to coincide with my wife and I both turning 65, so we went from my work coverage to Medicare. One work benefit was that it lets me use my unused sick hours (about 2500 of them) to pay for Part B coverage. So we’ve got that covered for about 20 years or so. It also covers the drug plans.
Since my alarm was at 3am to get to work by 5 I needed it. However, as I’ve said before other retirement threads, I kept it on after I retired just for the sheer joy of getting awakened, thinking, “I don’t have to go to work!” >whap< and instantly falling asleep again.