Happy and busy doing all the things I didn't have time for while I worked.

I'm now 5 years into it. The time really has flown by - I guess I have a talent for wasting time! Time to waste is such a luxury that I never had, for most of my adult life...I am enjoying it. I have discovered the pleasures of binge watching a TV series (I have never seen most of the famous hit shows) - Just finished watching Picard - 2-3 episodes per evening (but not every evening) .

I love watching the Tour de France and any other cycling race that I can - not many are on American TV, but sometimes I will catch one on a Belgian, Dutch or Italian stream. It is the only sport that I am interested in.

I try to do any house maintenance that I can without hiring help; I also like to cruise the internet which I never did while I was working. I spend at least 90 minutes - 2.5 hours daily, reading news stories - including the local paper, which sadly hasn't got 1/4 of the content it used to have (although the local political reporting is stil pretty good). I go in spurts working on genealogy, (I like the puzzle solving aspect of it, and my family has its share of puzzles!) and have gotten slightly involved with a local geni group.

I work out; haven't been running since I had a tendonitis while training for the half marathon in 2019, but I do go for hikes in the local metro parks or do a couple of miles in my neighborhood.

I have always liked fixing things, so now I keep my eyes open for discarded items on the curbs, things that I can clean, repair, or refurbish then donate.

I really can't say that I've been bored. I do wish I could recapture the desire to read fiction, that I lost after a serious infection some 20 years ago - every once in while I come across a novel that clicks, but they've been few and far between.

In that first year I did sometimes mourn the 40 years of knowledge and experience in my field that just went fallow after my last day at work, yet I didn't have any urge to go back - I was just done (not that I could have, no one was going to hire an age 65 critical care RN!). I've vaguely thought I might see about volunteering with the Red Cross or some such, but frankly the desire isn't there.

ETA I didn't mean to write an essay!!

I‘ll be interested in the responses as I retired three weeks ago so I’m still in the ’honeymoon’ phase of retirement.

I’m enjoying the freedom to do what I want when I want. I’m sure this will evolve over time and at this point I don’t want to be overscheduled. I do volunteer work one day a week and take a yoga class twice per week. The yoga classes are ’drop in’ classes and are available at the local fitness center most days of the week so I’m not committed to a specific day and time.

I’ve found that it is important to me to get out of the house every day so taking a walk, riding my bike or working out on the elliptical at the gym usually fulfills that need. I like to read, do crossword puzzles, Sudoku etc and am taking an free online Spanish class through Duolingo in preparation for a trip next year. I’m skeptical that I’ll really learn sufficient Spanish to be helpful on the trip, but its fun and makes me think. I also need to get to work on making digital photo books for the past few years of vacations.

I’m open to any and all suggestions.

I missed the social aspect but happy to not be working any more. I am just happy to stay home and do whatever I want and stay up as late as I want or sleep in. I just think of my Dad who worked hard all his life and as soon as he retired he died and didn't get to enjoy his retirement. Same for my younger brother and my sister who never got to enjoy her retirement because she still worked as a nurse, then died of cancer. I was in severe pain from my back when I stopped working and then got pneumonia during Covid and I told the Doctors in the ER just make me healthy so I can enjoy my retirement and the government pension that came with it. That is why I am on the health journey I am on. Maybe volunteer somewhere that you don't have to be on a schedule. A food kitchen/pantry. Join the senior community centre haha the people aren't all elderly. They seem to do lots of activities and go on outings.

I've been retired for 9.5 years now, and Hubs has been retired for 8 years. I don't think either of us has been bored. We love being able to stay up as late as we want, and sleep in as late as we want. We have the freedom to "get up and go" if the urge strikes us to go somewhere for a few days (or longer). We have a lot of time to read, work in the yard, spend time on hobbies, try new recipes, etc.

Cherryfizz, I've know a lot of nurses who died soon after retirement. Have an old friend who retired last year, she found out soon after that she had terminal cancer. That makes the third old friend of mine with stage 3 or 4 cancer. I think that was part of the reason I decided to retire early. I started having increased stress and decided it wasn't worth it. Now, though, I feel like I should be doing something. I guess it doesn't help that I've worked most of my life, even when I was a stay-at-home mom, I worked alot, on the house, yard and garden. Even then I got bored easily.

I’ve been retired for 6 years now, and except for during the Covid lockdown, I’ve never been bored. I had always planned to volunteer at least 1 morning at our botanical garden greenhouse. I was already involved with some level of volunteerism during Christmas and some other activities there on a random basis. Besides enjoying the ’no alarm’ mornings and relaxing with coffee, I immediately worked on cleaning out closets and drawers for about a month off and on. we took several long-anticipated vacations.

Kath, since you worked as a nurse, is there a NICU where you could volunteer to hold and rock babies? I have several friends (most of them ex-teachers) who do this. Are there any classes you are interested in taking? I find many all the time that are offered but I’m usually too late to sign up as they fill quickly.

I absolutely love it. I woke up on day one with the amazing feeling of not being obliged to go anywhere or do anything I didn't want to. I volunteer for things I like doing but not things that require regular attendance, I go to lots of exercise classes, I walk and run and I can go on holiday outside school vacation times. The Sunday night doom disappeared and I immediately stopped having anxiety dreams where I was standing in front of a class of kids I didn't know, being expected to teach a subject I didn't understand and with all the equipment failing.

I’m retired 3 years now, just as Covid was rearing it’s ugly head. For that reason, timing was perfect, but not so much in terms of my 401k. Six months in I took up wool applique and it’s been my life since then. I made my first quilt and it’s been juried into it’s first national show this September. My only regret is I didn’t retire sooner!

DH just ended a three mos. 'practice retirement' . He worked through COVID so spent this three months doing what most did then, catching up on home owner chores!! He has been debating when to retire for a few years now. We were told he could --financially speaking. He was suddenly w/o pre-able laid off. Growing up I kept hearing how it's important to foster hobbies--so you have them come retirement. Well after 50+ years of said hobby come to discover ya get burnt out and or physically unable to continue them!!! He's going to take up bag pipes he tells me. I have to say I am surprised not to hear more about volunteering. Those that were in service industries--I get you are probably DONE with joe public but I think of Annie and her blankets and that is purposeful leisure!! To answer the question how he reacted--he went back to work!! Not 1000% positive it was necessary but more power to those that can afford to go it 100% on your own for medical. We decided the few more years until 65 and Medicare made the best financial sense no matter what the financial planner said.

I so wanted to retire, I had no problem doing so. And I'm delighted. It's been 13 years now. Of course we were just moving to our new home so keeping busy wasn't an issue when I first retired. We had so much to do. I'd say it took me about 2 years to rediscover myself as my old job was so stressful and "imbedded" in me.

Some of the things that I've done since retirement:

. entertaining people at my house: lunches, dinners, overnight guests, family holidays

. getting together with friends for a walk/hike often including a lunch

. joined a gym and exercising and meeting people in classes

. subscribed to the local theaters and got a group together for dinner and a show

. attend monthly retirees luncheon

. joined 2 book groups so I do a lot of reading

. joined a yarn group for my knitting/crocheting...I make blankets for Project Linus among other projects

. took some classes in MBSR (mindfulness based stress reduction) and now meditate, go on retreats and attend days of silent meditation

. crafting and decorating on my own...biggest was making a veil for my old intern, but I did lots of sewing making drapes for the house, etc.

. traveling...big trips and day trips: got DH to all 50 states

. line dancing

. after doing our house, I really wanted to keep decorating so I helped 5 other friends with their kitchens...cabinetry, tile, fixtures, etc...lots of shopping and looking. So enjoyed it! (DH was happy I was spending their money instead of ours for a change!)

. one of the gals I worked with who was like a mother to me is now 98 and bedridden. I visit her every week. I tried some volunteer activities but never found a good fit, but this is my version of volunteer work

. spend way too much time on the internet, arguing in forums...but I did a lot of writing for work and it's my way of expressing some of my energy, especially around politics these days

. a season to my activities: winter we hibernate more, movies and jigsaw puzzles and crafting take more of my time...summer outside work in the gardens, splitting wood, etc.

. big projects around the house...right now we are in phase 2 of a major landscape project in our yard

. miscellaneous things take way longer now...I now no longer rush through breakfast but spend a long time at it...showers take longer too and are more of a pleasure than a thing to rush through before work in the a.m.

. I spend a lot more time with my kitties

Things that haven't happened:

. I never got through all those NYer magazines I thought I'd read in retirement...I'm still chipping away at it but I think I receive more than I read yet!

. I thought I'd sleep a lot more and later, but I struggle with that and am often up at 5 or earlier

. Still thinking about going back to school...seniors can attend state colleges for free in our state and I'd love to take classes to learn new things...when I first retired I was reading books about quantum physics as it so tickled my mind!

. I thought I'd spend more time with music....piano, flute, recorder...that I used to play as a child

. Spend more time cleaning my house...but nope...still don't enjoy it! That's why I have company...to get the house clean!

What worked for DH was to create a new routine for himself after he retired. He started going to the gym 5 days a week. He got up and dressed almost like he did before when he was working except a few hours later...and he'd combine that with shopping and stopping: bank, post office, groceries, etc. That kick started his day and he felt more comfortable with that.

I am a nurse retired now for 11 years and I Love it! I've never been happier! I have made lots of new friends through my Genealogy Society and also from my Garden Club. I love doing things with my friends and also doing genealogy and gardening as time permits. I love being able to do whatever I want! I got two baby puppies during Covid lockdown and now I have an expanding group of friends who love dogs too! We walk them together whenever we can. I think you will grow to love being retired!

No regrets, no boredom, no problems going on 14 years now. I liked my old job but still recall that last surreal drive home from work, I drove verrrry carefully that day.

As some have said, I wish that I had retired sooner. Instead of the trip to Hawaii that my husband and I had anticipated, we got to go to the oncology center instead. He was diagnosed with cancer 4 months after I retired. After struggling with radiation and repeated chemo, he died 4 years later. I had a rough couple of years adjusting to my new situation.

I have now been retired for ten years. I am blessed to have a good crew of close friends and a sister who has become closer. I chat with these often, meet them for lunch and a movie now and then. There is also my place of worship where I am a regular attendee of both services, social events and volunteer activities.

Other than that I revel in flower gardening on 2 acres. I like all the hands on aspects of digging, propagating, weeding. When I see something beautiful there, I like to photograph it. If it's good enough, I may use it to make a greeting card for the sick, the elderly or a family member.

I have now taken up walking the 2 mile course at a local park when weather permits. I volunteer at the local hospice organization. I attend a lot of local concerts and events to enjoy music and people. During baseball season, I really enjoy Atlanta Braves baseball and I most often have a book going since reading has been a lifelong passion. I even tried online dating with limited results. Just this week I seem to have reached the conclusion that I am pretty happy with me. I don't have anyone else to consider except my dog when I want to do something. After 40 years of working and little me time, it has taken me a while to reach nirvana.

Give it time--you will get there.

I retired gradually. When I was 66, I reduced my work to three days a week, and then at 67, I reduced that to alternate weeks. Then at 68, I stopped going into work on a regular basis and was kept on as a consultant and did much of the work at home, but none of it was mandatory.

I had started taking "Bucket List" trips when I was 65 and went to places that I wanted to visit before I got too old to appreciate them fully. Unfortunately Covid put a temporary end to my overseas travels.

I cannot ever remember being bored - I am extremely good at entertaining myself, and I always have projects that I want to do, especially with sewing and cooking. I like developing new recipes and I like making clothes for my brother and me and items for the house, such as drapes and bedspreads. I have collected lots of bolts of fabric from work (mostly abandoned fabric from large upholstery jobs), but I have also bought outdoor fabric for our house in Cathedral City, which I can now visit whenever I please.

I don't ride my bikes as much as I should, but I do enjoy time in my pool, which is something that I always wanted but never had until I retired and bought a second house. I had fun renovating the bathrooms and kitchen in the new house, and we expect eventually to sell the house in Los Angeles and just live in the second house.

In L.A., I can garden all year, but I find that I do not have as much time for that as I thought I would, but I can always do it whenever I want.

I am happiest with freedom to do what I want when I want and have never been happy when I had a strict regimen of what I needed to do. I thrive best with less structure in my life.

I left my social work jib to raise my daughters. When they were in middle school I happened to see an ad for a market research company, on the sensory side of production testing and development. It was part-time but really fun. I still be doing it but the company closed the department, so the decision was made for me.

I'm not one to be bored as I don't need much around me to be content.

Some people like structure. Volunteer Tuesday, go to the gym Monday, Wednesday, Friday etc.

It sound like you need just one thing to get you out of your funk. You like gardening. Any outlets there that you can pursue? Is MeetUp available? They have lots of groups. I found my book club that way. It's for women in their 50’s and 60’s, so easy people for me to relate to.

Like many, I worked my entire adult life. Stress levels increased over the years as my positions changed. Then a year before my planned retirement, my DH died and my world changed. I went ahead and worked the last year as planned, and left the rat race. I do not regret this decision as quite honestly, I just did not care any longer. I wanted to leave while my reputation was still stellar, rather than having it erode because I didn't care. Don't know why that was important to me, but it was.

I have commitment phobia. I've worked evenings, weekends and holidays as needed for many years. It took a couple of years before I started volunteering one day a week. I still limit my volunteering, but enjoy it when I go.

I'm bored much of the time and depressed with it. The women I know are still married and not interested in "girls trips." It's difficult for me to jump into new groups and socialize with other single mature women. A couple ladies try to include me, but they're still working and so not as conscious of costs as I am. My situation is totally "on me," as I never prepared for being on my own already.

I hope you find something that interests you, and gives you pleasure.

It's been 8 yrs. now that I retired and still love it. My first year, I just reveled in the fact that I was under no obligation to do anything and spent maybe a little too much time int he recliner. Because we had rental homes, that kept us pretty busy in taking care of them and all the work that went along with it. Since then we sold them all, sold our rv and additional car and after each sale, the weight off my shoulders was wonderful. I've kept busy crocheting, spending time with family and friends, gardening. I crochet mostly to gift to family and our local "Buy Nothing" groups. Believe it or not, I do less volunteering and traveling since retirement than I did while working. Our biggest trip each year is to our second home in New England.

Take some time and think about what would bring you joy. Any crafting, classes or volunteering you would be interested in? Sometimes, the first year is one of getting use to the transition, especially if you are used to being active.

It took a year for me to de-stress from my teaching job. I miss teaching now from time to time (more so when I was still only a few years out), but never enough to go back as long as my license was still valid. Now, I spend time outside in the yard, walking the dog, and picking up my four-year-old granddaughter from pre-k and now summer camp. Help out with her twin sisters from time to time as well.

I have a friend (we are both married) with whom I took several trips to France-she had never been and her husband wouldn't go, so I told her I would go anytime (I studied there and made a few other trips to visit when I was younger). Now, my friend has some health issues, so we may never make it again, although I am hopeful we can make one more trip. If not, I will probably go by myself. I would love to spend a couple of months there.

Give yourself a little time. I have a couple of friends near me, so I go out every month or so for lunch with one and dinner with the other. I am pretty happy just being at home, but I should probably push myself to get out more. I hope you find your equilibrium between relaxing and enjoying retirement more than being bored.

My first year of retirement was spent figuring out what I was going to do in retirement and how we were going to make it work financially. My work was undergoing a big restructuring that I wasn't looking forward to being a part of at this point in my career. I'd planned to work a couple of years longer, but they were offering a buyout, so I took it. I prepaid our health/dental insurance for 3 years until we reached 65 and put the remainder into my 403b retirement account.

Someone asked what I planned to do in retirement, and I remember telling them, "Go to the doctor, I guess."

Advice given to me by a friend who'd preceded me in retirement, "Don't make any major commitments the first year. Spend that time figuring out what you want to do.".

Outsideplaying, the nearest NICU is about 30 minutes away from me and I don't know if I can hold a baby, even a preemie for long. Having arm and shoulder pain and weakness in both arms. I need to stop playing games on my phone, which I do because I get bored.

I have thought about either working or volunteering for short periods of time at National or State parks. I even recently looked into camp nursing. Do a month of work, get paid a lot of money but then I thought about the fact that I have no experience working with kids as a nurse and the fact that I'd have to renew my KY lisence and get another state lisence. I don't want to do that and realized I don't want to be a nurse anymore. I'm considering doing Meals on Wheels.

Annie, I tried the book club thing while I was working. Of course I missed a lot of the early morning meetings because of my work schedule. I may try it again if they are even still having them. I do get together with some friends for game night. However, some of them have been having health issues or family members have so we've had to reschedule multiple times lately. Finally was able to get three of us together weekend before last.

Sweet Betsy and Mystical Manns, so sorry you both lost your husbands before you could enjoy your retirements together.

Well, I spent the morning going to get ice and another ice chest at Wal-Mart. Power went out as soon as I woke up. I waited a couple hours before I went out. As I was leaving my house I noticed one of my small cherry trees was blown over by the storms last night. So, after getting my fridge food in the ice chests I went out and rerighted and staked my tree. Hopefully it lives. The power came back on a half hour ago, so now I have to restock my fridge. lol.

Lot of trees down all over town and my friend across town has been without power since yesterday afternoon and is still out.

Kathsgrdn...that's the thing about life. Even in retirement, stuff happens. It's always something!

I eased into retirement by working part-time at the same place I had worked for 30+ years. I did the part-time for 5 years and have been fully retired for 3 years now.

It took me a long, long time to slow down. For so many years, I worked and almost singlehandedly raised two boys so everything was rush, rush, rush. Grocery shopping, the laundry, cooking, scrubbing the bathroom, etc. Walking out to the garage for something? Find something else that needs to go out so you can multitask!

In this past year I have finally slowed down and it’s wonderful - take time to study all the choices in the grocery store, stop and chat with a neighbor on my daily walk, fall down the rabbit hole of Amazon, Pinterest, or Ancestry.com. It’s all good.

How did I react? Positively. I pushed the button early and have no regrets.

Kathsgrdn, I am not sure just where you are, but I wonder if there is an organization that functions to improve literacy close to you? Here we have a couple of orgs that seek volunteers to meet with both native-born citizens who somehow were left off the literacy bus, and immigrants working to learn English. I did this for a while until my work schedule changed; it was about an hour a week, we met at the library - but I did have to be a bit flexible with date/time because both of the people I worked with were subject to frequent changes in their work schedules. One gentleman was from Mauritania and already literate in both French and Arabic.

When I first quit my "real" job, I opened an LLC, then started buying houses. Busier and more focused than ever. Had just purchased a larger home on acreage when covid hit. A year ago I was old enough to apply for Social Security. My husband still works part time, today I went with him and worked side X side...so he finished early and got off at noon. His boss stopped by, gave me a wad of cash for my efforts. Then we went out to lunch. GF texted me she'd just mowed my lawn out front, how did I like it? (She has a new riding mower she's trying out) My life's pretty busy...but I can slow down any time. I joined a book club. Have a yoga class once a week every Wednesday. I joined a neighborhood walking group. Hubby & I volunteer, just finished repairing the fence and flagstone entryway.

Positive reaction here, too! No regrets. I enjoyed my work…until I didn’t. Then I knew it was time!

Raee, I'm in Central KY and have no idea if there is such an organization here. Not really sure where to start looking either.

Maybe get a couple exchange students again. They’d keep you busy.

I would like to volunteer to teach ESL or tutor students, but the nearest library branch to me that offers this is too far away and in a neighborhood that I do not like.

When I was working, my commute was 1.3 miles, and I do not want to increase my driving time, as I am not a good driver, and driving scares me. I dread driving to doctors' appointments.

Summersrhythtm, not doing that ever again.

Ok dear. :-) If you like gardening, check your local botanical garden. They always need people for volunteer work.

@Kathsgrdn - if you are interested in volunteer work, I googled my county + volunteer opportunities and a list of potential opportunities appeared. I found my volunteer spot through Americorps Seniors https://americorps.gov/serve/americorps-seniors. YMMV.

Husband retired at age 56. I retired a few years before he did. We now wonder how we got things done while we were working. Work sure cuts into the tee times.

The first few years we did some part-time ‘work‘ at the local hockey arena during the winter. My husband now knows how to drive a Zamboni. I know how to fill one. 🙂

It was a lot of fun.

Rarely has the weather stopped me from being outside. Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall.

Heritagehd07, thanks for the link, will check into it. I also found a local community program that works in just the surrounding counties.

I was fortunate because Roy and I were able to travel a lot!

We played golf at some spectacular courses and met lots of interesting people.

I am glad we did because Roy has dementia and requires a lot of care.

Both happy and sad news, roy4me. Best wishes to both of you.