Yes, I'm retired. I'm 65, but have been retired for a while. (After having stage III breast cancer in my 40s, I started working on retiring as soon as I could, since it would really tick me off to never reach retirement if my breast cancer became metastatic (which it hasn't)). That retirement prep took a while to line up, but I was able to retire before "retirement age", thankfully.)

What do I do? Any. Thing. I. Want. To.

Looking around at my retired friends, different things suit different people. Among things I see people doing:

* Volunteering (church, food banks, support networks, museums, parks, nursing homes . . . .).
* Fostering animals, mostly pets, including the kinds of fostering that aren't very compatible with a work schedule, like caring for orphan puppies/kittens.
* Home improvements, like gardening, decorating, etc.
* Increased or more satisfying activity schedules (exercise, but not just formal exercise: Stuff like photography, birdwatching, etc., too.)
* Starting or resuming hobbies, like crafts, art, carpentry, etc.
* (Re-)Learning to play a musical instrument, playing with groups, joining choral groups, etc.
* Travel (distant or local "field trips"
* Games or activities with other retirees (movies, card games, etc.)

For me, another advantage of retirement is the luxury of doing shopping/errands in off-peak times, when others are at work. Less stressful! Better service!

The things I personally have done or do have changed some during the pandemic, but as above I'll answer more generically:

I've been an avid on-water rower since my 40s. Retirement gave me more flexibility to do that in times when conditions are better. I don't love daybreak (very best conditions), but a group of retiree friends and I row 4 days a week, in season, at 8:30AM, when weather allows. Often, we'll go out for coffee after. I've helped out with our club's learn-to-row classes for a long time. In recent years, I've started offering to "graduates" that they can come out and row with us in the mornings if they like. (They often need help carrying boats, or feel more comfortable with extra advice or supervision from experienced folks.) Though I don't change our regular schedule to meet their needs, I'll occasionally agree to meet them in the evening to help them out. By doing this, I've developed friendships with women and men from collegiate age to older than me, which has been fun.

I've long had more hobbies than time to do them all, so I've had more opportunities in retirement to indulge in them. I do various things, but most are crafty things such as jewelry making, visual journaling/mixed media, sewing, crocheting, etc.

I've had a banjo for years, just picking it up and putting it down off and on, never getting anywhere. In the last few years, I've given it more focus, and have actually made a little progress. (I'm still appalling, pathetic . . . but better. And, importantly, I'm having fun.)

Especially since weight loss, I've been enjoying food & cooking more: Growing herbs, going to farmers markets, trying new veggies/fruits, doing more time-consuming cooking when I feel like it, and generally savoring both the food and the experiences. I know that some people feel the opposite, but for me, calorie counting made me conscious of planning and selecting the yummiest possible ways to get nutrition on appropriate calories, which has *increased* my enjoyment in food and eating, vs. when I was more like shoveling whatever came to hand and looked OK into my mouth, without much thought. 🙄

I'm probably the strongest & fittest I've been since my 20s, and maybe ever (especially if I give myself a bit of grace for the kinds of limitations that come with a long life, like injuries that have longer-term implications, arthritis, and what-not). I have much more flexibility to take advantage of weather, not only for rowing, but for walks, bike rides, and activity-related events like art fairs, music festivals, etc.

Pre-pandemic, in addition to the rowing, I was taking daytime spin classes at the Y twice a week (on off days of rowing), and meeting people there, as well. I still have friends from there who get together occasionally for bike rides, walks, coffee, meals or whatever. Since the pandemic, I got a stationary bike to use at home in the seasons when I can't be biking/walking outside, and I've had a rowing machine for almost 20 years. I go through on and off periods, but I've reached the point where if I don't get in some regular workouts, I feel more stressed, grumpy, physically uncomfortable, so I'm usually on some kind of 6-day-per-week activity schedule. Last couple of months, that's been a mix of stationary bike, outdoor walks, rowing machine, home yoga/stretch; and I'm working on adding back in strength training and core exercises. If I feel like taking a break for a few days, I do, now confident that I won't stop forever (because it feels bad to stop for very long). I love the scheduling flexibility that comes with retirement: I can do different exercise activities anytime that works well, any point in my day.

I mentioned the "night owl" aspect of my personality. In my rowing off-season, I drop back to the schedule that seems most natural to me, which includes staying up late and sleeping in.

For me, it took a while to adjust to retirement. I was used to a high-energy work environment, with interruptions and high-frequency topic changes all day long. It seemed to take a while for my brain to stop twitching! At first, I found myself switching activities often (and rather irrationally) throughout the day. I also experimented with lots of things, some of them very unrewarding (daytime TV!), but eventually my brain calmed down, and I sorted things out. I had a few co-workers who I think panicked during a similar phase, and went back to work full time. I'm glad I rode that out, frankly. I did work part time for a while (about 10 hours/week mostly), which was sort of a nice off-ramp. The first couple of weeks of retirement were indistinguishable from vacation, then the actual "figuring it out" started.

The end result, for me, has been great. I'm not even remotely wealthy, just adequately comfortable, but life feels pretty luxurious, frankly: I do what I want, when I want to. Good stuff!

My advice would be: Don't fear it, but allow yourself some adaptation time.

Best wishes!

I retired in 2019 when I was 60. I enjoyed my job and loved the people I worked with (most of them LOL). But it was time. The morning after my last day of work my husband and I headed off for a three month RV trip across Canada. The roadtrip departure date was perfect because it meant that once I had initiated my retirement paperwork, I began focusing on trip planning, instead of second guessing my decision.

A wise woman told me not to commit to anything in my first few months of retirement because once people hear you're retired, they'll all want a piece of you before you even have a chance to figure out what you want to do. So after we returned from our trip I spent about 6 months just puttering around the house and did a bit of casual volunteering as a dog walker at the SPCA.  Our own dog had recently died but I wasn't ready for another one just yet. We've always had re-homed or rescued adult dogs before, never a puppy, and because this might be my last dog, just for once, I wanted a puppy. That's how an 8 week old golden retriever entered our lives.

And then the world hit pause for COVID. So you have to understand that this is my retirement in a COVID environment, and therefore not necessarily how I had planned it would be.

Training that puppy was absolutely my saving grace during those first months of lockdown.  But when things began opening up a little I started walking with a group of retired friends three times a week. I normally spend my summers paddling on a dragonboat team but that hasn't been possible during COVID. So instead, my walking friends (who I also dragon boat with) and I started kayaking two or three times a week. I'm just waiting for morning temps to be above freezing and then I'll start running again. My winters are spent snowshoeing or cross country skiing every day with our dogs (we acquired a re-homed border collie as well as the golden retriever LOL). I do yoga and weights a couple of times a week year round. Pre-COVID I often took a deep water running class at the pool and also a spin class. During the non-winter months I walk the dogs every day off-leash on trails so I can get a good pace going. My husband sometimes joins me on my dog walks, skiis, or snowshoeing. In the summer we go camping, canoeing, and take our RV to visit our kids, who all live away.

I now volunteer for an organization that helps seniors remain independant in their homes so a couple of times a week I take elderly clients to doctors appointments or grocery shopping. I spent most of last weekend doing training for an organization that helps with social services during emergencies like floods and wildfires. I still have a couple more training sessions to complete and then hopefully I'll be a capable volunteer. Yesterday morning I helped a group clean up brush and deadfalls in the park where my dragon boat club's boathouse is. Between doing that and walking the dogs my fitbit said I had 21,200 steps at the end of the day. Not bad for someone who used to have a desk job! LOL

Unfortunately I don't have a crafty or artsie bone in my body. I do, however, always have some kind of a Bible study on the go that requires daily homework. Because any real travel has been out of the question this past year, we've been doing some small-ish updates around the house.

Like @AnnPT77, I'm in the best physical shape since I was in my 20's. One surprise bonus is that I honestly hadn't realized the mental weight that I carried around from my job. I find I like this new me better than the working me.

If you generally like to stay busy (I do), then you can easily fill your days. But mine are now filled doing things I enjoy. When my kids were young and involved with many different activities, those were the organizations I volunteered my time with. Now I can choose. And I get to go for coffee after walking or ice cream after kayaking. Any day of the week! I have honestly never regretted my decision to retire.

@tmbg1 Its good to think about retirement and have a bit of a plan. One thing I should also mention is that just because you retire, it doesn't mean you can't continue working in some other capacity if you want. My husband retired from full time work a few years before me but he needed to do it gradually, not "cold turkey" like I did. He continued to work to cover holidays or illness at the company and he really liked that. I had the opportunity to continue working that way too with my employer but I chose not to. If your financial situation allows it, working part time could be the best of both worlds for you; more free time, but still bringing it a few dollars on top of any pension you may receive. Do the math and see if its a possibility. You might be surprised. Whatever you decide to do, good luck ♥️