Retirees unite?

ReenieHJ · November 2019

I retired the end of May. While it's helped with eating healthier in many ways, it's also left me with so much free time I need to fill. Plus my dh moved back in after us living apart for 12 years which has been an adjustment.

I've always been an emotional eater; stress makes me run for brownies. And having been a daycare provider for a zillion years you can imagine the stress. Besides how many times I bought graham crackers 'for the kiddos' and they never got any.

Well, now I'm pretty much stress free....except for having another person in the house again.

But my problem is I'm constantly finding myself in the kitchen. While my dh is a different kind of eater than I am, there are still temptations around that I wouldn't normally have in the house.

So I'd love support, advice, ideas, on being happily and actively retired and still stay healthy.
What do you all do for hobbies and activities?
I walk 2-4 miles a day, read a lot, word puzzles and jigsaw puzzles, cruise the internet, help my sister a bit because her dh has Alzheimer's. I'd like to relearn crochet and do something simple. But I spent so much of my life being there for others that I have no idea what *I* want to do now.

So, please tell me your story?

Theoldguy1 · November 2019

Had my corporate job eliminated after 37 years. Was fortunate enough to get a year's severance pay, and virtually full pension. After 6 months of working out 4 hours a day, taking a class, doing a bunch of home fix it projects was bored and took a consulting/agency job with my old company working 40 hours a week.

AnnPT77 · November 2019

I love being retired!

I retired about 13 years ago, at about age 51, from a career doing IT support at a university. There was definitely an adjustment period, which included working part time for a few years as an off-ramp. I'll turn 64 in a couple of weeks.

In season, I row on water 4 days a week (weather permitting) with some mostly retired and college-student friends. Sometimes we go out for coffee and chat after. I also go to spin class at the Y twice a week. In Winter, I do less volume of activity, substituting some rowing machine work, and things like strength training or swimming.

I like making jewelry, and doing various misbegotten mixed-media arts and crafts projects. I do visual journaling, make various kinds of mixed-media books, and generally make a mess with paint, paper, collage, etc. One evening a week and one all-day Saturday per month, I get together with a group of women who also do that sort of mixed-media stuff, and I belong to a state- wide book arts group that meets roughly quarterly. I also see and crochet, but do those more rarely.

For a few years, I've been working on teaching myself to play to play bluegrass banjo. I'm horrifying, but it's fun.

I also like to shop the farmers market and cook. I don't a bit of ornamental & herb gardening, plus take photos of flowers and stuff to share on Facebook. I like visiting brewpubs now and then to try new craft beers (especially IPA) and talk with random people, which is an especially good way to meet & interact with younger people.

I was obese most of my adult life, joined MFP in 2015, lost about 50 pounds, and have stayed at a healthy weight since (5'5", mid-130s pounds). If it matters, I'm vegetarian (45 years), hypothroid, widowed (21 years) and a long-term (19 year) survivor of stage III (locally advanced) breast cancer.

Welcome to MFP!

missysippy930 · November 2019

I will have been retired for 2 years at the end of December. I read, a lot, walk, and I have to admit I’ve binge watched a lot on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I worked very long hours plus a 40 minute commute one way. Very stressful job. It’s funny, I just went out to dinner with some of my coworkers last week, and they asked how I like retirement. The first thing that came to my mind was that it’s a relief. A lot of free time to do anything that comes to mind. I love it.

spiriteagle99 · November 2019

I read, walk, run, and waste time on the internet. Every other year, DH and I do a long cross-country road trip. Other times we just go camping for a week - which gives me new places to walk and run.

Volunteer work is a good way to transition from working full time to not working. There are a lot of places that can use your help. If you love to cook, maybe look into Meals on Wheels. If you like to hike, become a trail maintainer. There are a thousand places that could use you.

springlering62 · November 2019

I'm 57. I unwillingly "retired" six years ago, after an addiction problem caused my family's business to unravel. I fell into depression. On a whim, we decided to build a home on the other side of the county, for a fresh start, and to get away from my toxic family. We moved to a beautiful, walkable historic town. It was like a tonic.

It's such a great place to live. It is really like Mayberry. You constantly see people you know, and everyone is just so friendly and happy to be here. There are concerts, museums, festivals, 5ks, a terrific weekly farmers market, and a bi-weekly artisan market.

I volunteer, got heavily involved in the HOA, walk everywhere (I only put a couple thousand miles a year on my car since we moved here!), run, weight train at a wonderful little local gym, and I just looked at "My Attendance" on Mind/Body and see that I did yoga and pilates 37 times at my local studio last month. (Way to optimize that unlimited membership! Erm.....I guess I was having fun!) It is sincerely such a luxury to be able to walk to places that I feel guilty if I don't take advantage of every opportunity.

I've joined some social groups I found on NextDoor.com and forced myself out to meet neighbors. We lived in our old house 30 years, and knew the names of the people on either side, but that was about it. I can see how studies show that socialization helps keep you young and healthy. It's something I have to work at, because I am a natural introvert.

My husband saw me having so much fun and asked if I'd mind if he retired early, too. He took up a couple of volunteer gigs he just loves- polar opposite of the spreadsheets he used to concoct for a Fortune 500 company.

And now we have the ultimate luxury of being able to travel whenever we want.

I don't do much TV, but I do needlepoint, crochet, read, and my phone helpfully warns me I spend entirely too much time browsing the internet- mostly MFP, lol.

As @spiriteagle99 points out above, there are so many places that would love to have volunteers, ranging from local shelters and animal shelters, to local law enforcement, museums, special needs kids groups, churches, schools, truly something for every interest, and you meet many kindred spirits, too.

I feel truly blessed that retirement has turned out to be such a joy after a couple of the most stressful years of my life. And to enter the latter years so much healthier than they started, is a double blessing. As a dear friend used to say, "when one door closes, another one opens".

Gisel2015 · November 2019

I am retired since 2010 and not planning to change that. I am almost 76 years old, so I deserve the break.

My job was stressful, and it required monthly domestic and/or international travel. I got tired of airports, planes, and hotels and since my husband was already retired, I worried about him being alone all the time. Life is short and we never know what is lurking in a corner; I wanted to spend my golden years enjoying time with my husband, our children and their families, and traveling for joy and not for business. It is hard to balance meals, eating times and exercise when you are on the road, and the constant travel plus age, were taking a toll on my body.

Now, I go to the gym four times a week and I take three chair yoga classes a week, plus a mat Pilates classes when my body is willing to endure the extra exercise. I walk and I do a lot of gardening too; I live in southern California, so our gardens need care all year round; besides, I enjoy garden work.

My husband and I do a lot of traveling during the summer months too. I cook lunch and dinner (I don't really enjoy it because I don't like to cook), while hubby takes care of breakfast, and we eat out two to three times a week. Sometimes alone, and sometimes with friends.

I keep in touch with friends and co-workers, I read, surf the internet, watch TV after dinner, organize and keep up with projects in the house, and I try to keep as healthy and busy as possible.

I have friends that after retiring and losing their husbands decided to take adult classes at the local university, to either learn new things or to keep up with previous matters, but I am fortunate to still have my husband of almost 54 years with me, and I don't want to get very busy. I am not bored, and I am enjoying my freedom. My husband, on the other hand has been involved in volunteer IT work for several years, so we are not on each other way all the time.

cheryldumais · November 2019

I'm retiring the end of March 2020. I told my husband I feel like a kid in July waiting for Christmas. I'm ready. It's early retirement. I'm 63. There is so much I want to do. I've been only part time for the last few years so it won't be a huge change for me. But my time will be my own to do with as I choose. He volunteers at a senior home so I said I would give that a try. I'm also very involved at my local church with a one on one discipleship course which I really enjoy. I used to love to garden so may get back that and like everyone else on earth I've toyed with writing. Who knows maybe I'll finish one of them. The biggest change will be getting to take a holiday when I want to instead of working around work schedules. Retirement here I come!

Azdak · November 2019

I am newly retired—as of last October 11. I am still barely into making the transition. I got my first job at age 12 (newspaper route) and have always worked since then. So when people say “you’re lucky to be retired”, it can be a little irritating. I earned this with 54 years of hard work and denying myself a lot of things so I would have the income to do this.

As many people in the group know, I have worked in the fitness industry for over 35 years—as a clinical exercise physiologist, and, variously, in sales, management, personal training, etc. While I still love fitness, and my last job was not a bad one, it was very physical with long hours and involved a 34 mile drive each way. To make things worse, a team member (of our 4-person team) went on extended medical leave at the beginning of the year and was never replaced—which meant even more work and more hours. It beat me up physically to the point where I was just hanging on, hoping to make it through the last few weeks.

Since it’s all so new, I really don’t have a routine yet. I am busy cleaning and reorganzing the house and my office, enjoying time with the dog, and putting my body back together after several years of working with serious injuries. I also spend a lot of time right now organizing my finances and restructuring them for a retirement budget.

My wife still works full time and works 60-80 hours a week. One of my concerns for retirement was that I would end up being a “house elf” since I was home all the time. I don’t think that is my wife’s expectation, but it is hard not to want to jump in and support her, and realistically if I was her, I would have a hard time coming home exhausted every day to a husband who was just hanging around. So we are still working that out

After so many years of work, it’s going to take awhile to rediscover myself, I think. The things I enjoy doing right now can actually eat up a lot of time. I am learning more and more about investing as I have decided to manage my own portfolio instead of relying on a financial advisor. I also enjoy photography and digital processing. And I want to further my abilities in graphic design. If you have ever worked with Lightroom, Photoshop, or any graphic design program, just trying to learn how to use them better can make hours vanish in an instant!

My biggest concern is establishing social interactions. I have never been someone with a large circle of acquaintances or friends. For the past 10 years, not only did I work in a place that was 35 miles from home, but I was 15-35 years older than everyone I worked with. It was great, but it’s not like we would ever hang out together. However, I don’t really enjoy being with people my age group all that much either. At least where I live, they are mostly old-minded, grumpy, ignorant and conservative. And the ones who aren’t are a bunch of old hippie-dippies who annoy me as well.

Trying to find someone in their 60s who likes vigorous workouts, wine, professional cycling, and Zydeco music is a bit of a challenge.

And, yes, I know the problem is me.

Right now, I just like having the freedom to do what I want on my own schedule. Before, doing yard work or cleaning the house would seem like a huge imposition because I was desperate to hold on to every second of free time off. Now, I don’t mind because—well, there’s no end to the free time.

(Although, checking stocks in the morning, walking the dog, and working out, and making dinner take up a pretty good chunk of the day).

I am also looking for a way to continue being involved with fitness without having to be tied down to a schedule. I still like working with people and I still think I have a lot to offer in that area (it is SO HARD not to correct the trainers when I am working out at my gym). But I don’t want to train individual clients or work shifts and be tied to any kind of a schedule.

I am giving myself until the end of the year to just lounge around and indulge myself and think about some more concrete plans. And then we’ll see how it goes.

sijomial · November 2019

I retired two years ago at age 57 after a career in IT - two careers really as I worked for a large organisation for my first 22 years and worked for myself for the remainder.

You could say "sort of retired" as I decided I wanted to keep doing some part time work but in a completely new arena. I wanted the challenge to keep my mind active but also a complete change from a desk job which had become a chore and a bore.

I work (very) part time doing general maintenance, gardening projects, repairs and decorating mostly at student let properties. All physical tasks and with a very tactile reward at the end of a working day being able to see the results - unlike an IT desk job where there's nothing tangible to see or feel at the end of a good day or a bad day. It also gave me an opportunity to work with my son who has far higher building skills than me, so I learn skills from him and he learns from me how to run a business plus I get to put some well paid work his way.

Hobby-wise it hasn't changed much but I get far more flexibility over timing and volume of exercise (mainly cycling and gym training). Do think it's important to keep trying new things (baking was completely new for me for example). At work change is forced on you but when retired you have to instigate change or your world gets smaller.

Love the freedom of sleeping to my preferred schedule rather than the needs of the business day, rejoice I don't have to commute any more, love the flexibility of picking what to do and when. Stress levels are so much lower day to day but when stress is imposed on me (illness of relatives predominately) I've got the time to devote to those new priorities.

It's also been rewarding to get my own house and garden into much better shape after years of fitting it in where I could or paying others to do it.

Summary would be freedom and choice.

springlering62 · November 2019

@Azdak we have a Police Athletic League who would probably be thrilled to have someone with your skills working with youngsters. Or something like a Boys and Girls Club.

geraldaltman · November 2019

I retired at 60 in 2015 after 36 years. It wasn't my choice exactly, but a doable, acceptable alternative to having been involuntarily transferred to a job I had already done for 15 years and didn't much like. Unlike many, I had no plan or roadmap as to how to fill my days. I quickly learned that that really didn't matter. I after so many years was the sole decider on how each of my days would go and that was a great feeling! Healthwise, things were less than stellar. My weight and other labwork numbers were in an uncomfortable range which had my doctor "reading me the riot act" a week before my last day in March of that year. I promised her that I would soon be in a position to make some appropriate changes which I did and later labs showed...for a while; then things began to go south again. Over time I had become dis-satisfied with exercising and going to the Y. I saw my weight plateau then rise and ultimately, progressively my mobility and gait grew worse and very uncomfortable. Perhaps the worse thing to be in these circumstances is stubborn...and I was, very! I was stubborn in my denial that something wasn't right and steadfast in my resistance to suggestions to get checked out even made by people close to me who were "in the know". This went on for years! Then as 2018 drew to a close I finally reached my "enough's enough" point (everybody has one whether they know or not), got a referral from my doctor, made the appointment with an ortho surgeon that quickly established the "most severe" status of my hips and scheduled hip replacements. I had the first side done in January and the second in April. Once thru my rehab and PT by summer, I have felt as if I retired a second time! The only difference being that everything I choose to do has been freer and much more comfortable. It has made me a lot less resistance to going places. I have taken three road trips since. The likely irrational fear of becoming my former immobile self has propelled me into a new exercise and fitness mode that I have rarely felt more locked into. I have joined a fitness center next door to Y I used to go to, which has much more than they do and where I am comfortable at. I have lost significant weight and tommorrow I am getting labwork drawn that I am really expecting to tell my doctor the best story about me that she's seen in a long time; that appointment happens in one week. Right now, I am living as a retiree should, happily...finally! 😊

Azdak · November 2019

Maybe its because I am now a retired old geezer and so it’s very relevant, but I am really enjoying everyone’s stories.

sgt1372 · November 2019

Been retired for 12 going on 13 yrs.

Live alone. Have no financial problems. GF visits on wkends which is little enough to keep my life stress-free relationship-wise.

Not an emotional water and I eat what, when and as I like however I like, which is as good as it gets

Retirees unite?

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