I have to say I just love not answering to anybody anymore…no bosses! It’s glorious! And every night is Friday night. No worrying about asking to take off for any type of appts. Haircut at 2:00…sure! Grocery shop Tuesday at 10:30…awesome, no lines at Checkout. Need to run to the mall…no crowds! Planning a vacation? Sure, let’s take off Tuesday, better flights! The great things about retirement go on an on.
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I’ll be retiring at the end of January and I feel excited and a little apprehensive. I’ve only worked part time and cut my hours back a year ago so it shouldn’t be too jarring. I serve as an elected official on two boards and will add another one February 1. I love to cook but neither my husband or I are big eaters so the challenge is paring down recipes or planning ahead as to what I can freeze or give away to friends. I’m also involved in local politics and am forming a new group. We’ve been working unofficially for over a year but it’s time to formalize.
I also need to declutter. Another winter goal is to scan decades worth of pictures, my own and my parents and sisters that I’ve inherited. My parents took a lot of not-so-great pictures, and got doubles of them! I also love to read and garden.
My husband won’t be retiring for a few years so any travel we do together will be our normal two or three trips but I’m hoping to do some friend travel once COVID is done. I think the biggest concern for me is identifying myself as, “retired” and not a ___I work ______.
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I really am enjoying reading all of your replies even though I am still a few years away from retiring. One thing about work from home during Covid is that my company is going to let us continue to work from home as much as we want to even after Covid. I don’t have a difficult job and I have a wonderful boss and because of working at home this year I now feel better about the years I have left before retiring.
I now do all of my grocery shopping and errands during the weekdays because I can with working at home. H and I have also spent the past 10 months walking 5-7 miles each night 5 to 6 days a week. I know my boss will let me reduce my hours if I want to which I think I may do in the next couple of years before I retire. H also gets additional vacation time which I don’t get and my boss has been great about letting me take time off without pay whenever I want to. H and I will continue to do as much of the expensive travel that we want to do during the next few years when we are still working and healthy.
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@walkinghome, it’s taken me a long long time to say “retired”. I still don’t like to say it, especially when we are in social situations and people start asking “so, what do you do”. For several years, (and it was true), I’d say “I’m an accountant, but just looking for PT work now”. It’s odd, but I know my husband doesn’t like it when I say retired. I can tell, he bristles a little. I think it makes me sound old. I really dislike saying it. I find I say “well, I’m a retired accountant, but now I’m a Poshmark reseller” and start laughing. Then people want to know what that is and we’re off the topic.
I also had about 3k to 4K pictures my parents left me in several boxes. No rhyme or reason to anything…80 year old pictures all mixed in with current. I tackled that first thing and it took about 2 to 3 months to wade through and organize them. What a job, and I felt great with that done.
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@conmama I admit to being someone who also feels like “retired”is less than a desirable term. I’ve always felt that way.
You don’t have to use it. Just say you’re currently not working. Or that your interest in fashion has you doing some part time curated selling.
That’s what I would do . “Not working at the moment”! N
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I think my answer to the , “What do you do?” question will be to say, “I just took an early retirement and now I get to do whatever I want!”
Something that I’d like to get is maybe get a spin bike. I like to walk but I really dislike cold weather and I know that just wouldn’t become a habit. I need to find something that will stick. I like riding a bike but don’t live in an area where that would be safe or frankly, not easy for an out of shape person. We have narrow country roads with ditches on the side and rolling hills. See? I already have my excuses lined up! I need an excuse free exercise.
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This. 
I’ve wanted to be retired all my life. I’m proud to have achieved my goal, so I love saying I’m retired, but my identity was never tied up with my job. I think this is an important point. If you are uncomfortable “admitting” to retirement, that indicates that there is something about retirement that bothers you and should be dealt with before you step off the carousel. As long as a job is providing something important to you, there is no reason to leave, but when you are truly, truly ready, embrace it, claim it, and don’t look back. You don’t need to make excuses for your achievement.
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I think it’s an ageist thing too. Saying you are retired makes people think that you are at least 65. I’m close, but not there yet. I get what you are saying, but I think age retirement=old is the problem as much as the job description.
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I put the word “retired” in the same pot as “empty nest”. Both hugely negative to me. Largely because there is often a negative connotation with them. I avoided the term “empty nest” when it was that time in our house and I’ll do the same with retirement!! 
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I was informed almost 30 years ago when we moved to Colorado, that when people ask ‘what do you do?’ and they are asking if you ski, mountain bike, climb, hike, camp, etc.
Fast forward today. I jump in and say I hike, snowshoe, volunteer at the park, etc. It makes for an easy conversation.
OK, so since retirement we did a lot- university, travel, meetups, etc. All that is now not possible. But we are now expanding the gardening inside and outside, hiking, instagram, organizing the house and paperwork, and doing adventurous cooking including on FaceTime with the kids. I learned an enormous amount of how to do online ordering and once this is over I will continue that part.
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It is a long story but I am kind of retired. I retired in lieu of layoff in June, but I am working part time as a retired annuitant due to Covid. I am “only” 57, so I am sure to include that when I tell people. I like to play tennis. When I worked I played a lot at night and on the weekends and now I play almost every morning. I also am able to see my granddaughter more. When life gets back to normal I would like to travel. After working full-time for 31 years and raising 3 kids, I was tired. So it nice not to be so tired all the time.
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I have no problem stating that I am “retired” (but since I’m age 58, I try to add some info about my 7 year older husband to avoid seeming 65+ before I get there). It was a hard earned accomplishment, especially the past grueling 15 years. But honestly we’ve been not been out into the real world much since my 8/1 retirement. Mostly we talk/zoom only to people we know who are retired themselves and already know our situation.
One cashier did ask me if I had any fun plans for the weekend. I smiled and said “I’m retired - every day is a weekend”. When I joked about the story on one of our many zoom calls with friends, a retired friend corrected me … “A week of retirement is 6 Saturdays and a Sunday” (he runs his church zoom live broadcasts).
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I retired last September to babysit my grandbaby… but my DD decided to quit her job and my role became more flexible. Now I love my relaxed lifestyle. I do a whole lot of whatever I feel like, which means sitting around reading newspapers and rocking on the porch and snuggling grandbaby. I might get more motivated to do things later but for now I am living in the present, which Covid has made very close to home. After rushing around for 40 years, including helping build a house while working full time and raising children, I relish being lazy. DD is going back to school again starting next week so I will take on more babysitting. I received good advice when I first retired. That person told me to take my time figuring out what I wanted to do and I have
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H and I both retired early and on the same day-have never looked back.
It has worked well for us to set goals and grade ourselves
The Monday after we retired on Friday, we flew to Paris. We highly recommend leaving town to reset your life clock. With Covid, we are enjoying just travel planning.
H’s goals are primarily athletic: walk so many miles per week, bicycle so many miles per year, golf score.
I love to read. Suggest setting goals for number of books read per year.
I do BSF(Bible Study Fellowship). Couldn’t do this while working,
Together, we enjoy the Great Courses series. Modest goal is 1 course per quarter.
I also have some redecorating projects on my list-everything from painting the fireplace to new draperies for several rooms.
I get so much gratification from crossing off and dating the things we have done.
Retirement is awesome. So is grandparenting!
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@ksm - A few years ago we really enjoyed this Great Courses on Architeture - World's Largest Buildings and Structures - Greatest Structures and Architecture | Wondrium
My husband and I are both engineers, but the course could be enjoyable tov anybody (one semi-techical intro lecture, but most episodes did demo with tabletop block models)… especially world travelers. We loved seeing info about sites we had seen in the past, and it helped make us excited to see more.
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Although still working (both of us), my wife is frequently bringing up retirement. She’s an educator and has had a particularly difficult yr. We’re both 57. Fortunately we could retire right now if we wanted as I’ve set aside plenty for that purpose.
I’ve suggested to my wife that she does retire, or change roles (she gets completely consumed by work). I would like to rid myself of the burdensome parts of my job but truly do like client engagement. I’ve often said I could do the impactful client part forever and that would help pay for all kinds of fun in “retirement”.
My questions for those who have made the transition to a hybrid world, is it working, is it working as planned (two different questions I guess)? Can you really unplug for chunks of time and reengage as needed / wanted? Do you ever actually feel retired from a simplicity standpoint?
I like the sound of if and staying engaged to my comfort level. Just not sure how realistic that is. Told my wife that the earnings could pay for all travel every yr. Pretty sure we won’t need it to but maybe elevate the type of travel. I’m envisioning annual monthly Airbnbs to various European locals and lots of trips to see the kids.
Thoughts?
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I guess I sort of did a hybrid model when I retired from full time work. In my profession, there is a huge shortage of folks licensed to do long term leave positions in the schools. I’ve done 9 or 10…basically one a year…for 2-4 months. Some were full time and some were part time. Pay was excellent, and I was able to do the parts of the job I really enjoyed (working with students, staff and parents) but not all the meetings and professional growth plans and the like.
I haven’t done a leave position in over a year now, mostly because in covid times, folks can do virtual work and they don’t need me. But when possible, I would still do part time leave work.
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When we retired, I did totally and volunteered at a park the days that H part time worked. We did take extended times off to travel and see the kids. Unplug completely was somewhat hard, it depends on your job. With Covid era that is very different for different jobs. I personally do not miss working. H retired after 4 yrs completely last summer. He misses some of it but it got to be enough. One year adjustment is needed.
My brother still works part time in the winter because he has very little outside interests.
If I were planning a retirement now. I would do exactly as we did with exercise. We walk miles a day and lift weights, got a dog the week of retirement 5 yrs ago, and have a lot of interests that we continued into retirement. Covid put a real halt in life but we seek and continue to be open to learning new things and doing new experiences.
IMHO ( if financial things are ok ) health and open mind are the most important parts of a successful retirement.
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DH and I had no trouble completely unplugging, and I’ll never take another job, but DH’s largest client contacted him a couple of months after he left his company to see if he wanted to continue consulting on the next phase of the project he had finished just before retiring. That was almost four years ago, and he’s been “working” (on the phone) one or two days a week ever since. The client is in Ireland so all his calls are in the early AM, don’t interfere with our days, and can be done from wherever we are, so he does feel retired/unplugged compared to the intensity of his full-time job (partner in a large management consulting practice). For him, it’s perfect, and the money means that we haven’t needed to take SS or touch our investments yet.
The tricky part of your question, for most, is the ability to semi-unplug but continue to do something you find meaningful. In your case and DH’s case, the ability to cherry pick just the part of your job you enjoy at a much reduced stress- and time-consuming level is a scenario not available to everyone.
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I investigated some options listed at corporate HR site for part time work (with benefits). It was tricky to arrange, and DH and I realized with my stressful job it would be tough to have good work/life balance. So I worked full time, making an effort to use all my earned vacation (and comp time) and take nice travels. Alas, that did not work out due to work factors and Covid and my mother’s health downturn.
Updating to mention that even though our grand European vacation ideas (including possible work /“live as a local” a few weeks in Slovakia) did not work out, we did take a delightful 9 night road trip to Glacier National Park a year before I retired. We splurged more than usual, knowing we had some extra funds with me working longer (mainly to tide over to SS for DH). Stayed 2 nights at Many Glaciers Lodge
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