3 biggest ER surprises

[urn2bfree]

And always hated all medical programs except St. Elsewhere.


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I have always been annoyed by all medical TV fiction...so ridiculously inaccurate and unrealistic. I was referring to medically related news stories or discussions.




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[pullmyfinger]

One month into ER, these are the three things that have most surprised me:

3. Time goes by much quicker than when I worked full time.

2. I now know I'll never be bored. I was never bored before, but I wondered if that might change. I've come to realize that it's very easy for me to stay mentally engaged, and being an introvert (like most of us here), I don't even have to ramp up my socializing to do so.

1. I've stopped worrying about having enough money. This has been a shocker, considering how much energy I expended on financial planning for retirement and how many calculator simulations I ran. My attitude: I've done all I can, so now it just has to play out. It helps that I've come to realize that I think I can live simply on even less than I originally estimated.

What about you? What's your top 3? And do you think I'll change my mind about any of the above as I get further into retirement?

I am also 1 month into retirement and I wish I sounded as calm and settled.

Maybe it's because I left my job abruptly in a ball of flames. My initial reaction was overwhelming relief. It was wonderful to be able to sleep and to not get daily headaches. That lasted a couple of weeks, now I take for granted the sleep and headache free days. It was followed by dreams that I had to hurry and find a new job. Now the biggest symptom is feeling antsy. I'm just not sure what to do with myself. Is it really a good idea to retire at 45? Will we really be ok financially even though we have been running the numbers for years? Have I made a mistake? Granted I am a worrier. That is an understatement. Also DH is still working and is not sure when he will join me in retirement, either by the end of the year or in February after collecting a bonus if he stays that long.

I am hoping that this is just the detox process and I just need to let it pass. It still beats working any day.

 

[38Chevy454]

It still beats working any day.

Just keep that thought and you will be fine

 

[Dave in VA]

Agree with all the posts. Retired for 6 months, don't miss work at all, really enjoying the time I am able to spend with DW.

Tried out for a part in a local theater group (Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof). Most fun I have had in years! L'Chaim!!

 

[mpeirce]

I have always been annoyed by all medical TV fiction...so ridiculously inaccurate and unrealistic.

I feel the same way about computer/software depictions on TV.

My favorite is when it just takes one click to enhance a very blurry image so that it becomes crystal clear. Right....

 

[mpeirce]

Oh, I should have answered the OP too:

1. I've switched to "island time". I'm never in a hurry and I resent it when people expect me to get a lot done in a day.

2. I don't need afternoon naps anymore.

3. I've realized that a number of the projects I put off "until I have time" will never get done. <shrug>

 

[Walt34]

My favorite is when it just takes one click to enhance a very blurry image so that it becomes crystal clear. Right....

Yep, I did that all the time....

Or was asked to anyway.

 

[Focus]

Tried out for a part in a local theater group (Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof). Most fun I have had in years! L'Chaim!!

Retirement upside: You're now the right age to take on those character roles.

Retirement downside: Your character doesn't get the girl.

 

[imoldernu]

Surprises?
It will be 25 years (two more weeks).
For DW and me....

-To have lived this long
-To still be quite healthy
-Except for a few blips... to have been totally happy all the way

Thankful for a wonderful life....

 

[AllDone]

I have always been annoyed by all medical TV fiction...so ridiculously inaccurate and unrealistic. I was referring to medically related news stories or discussions.




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I've actually found myself enjoying reading about medicine now that it's no longer "work". I've had a couple of encounters with the wrong side of the stethoscope, though, and those have been appalling. (Pro tip for boy-doctors: girl-doctors take the same classes in medical school, do not explain the x-ray.)

In no particular order:
1. Instead of being bored, I've found that I can't get everything done that I want to do because the day just flies by.
2. I feel guilty about not working, but I really resent the time I put into the volunteer gig. I thought I would like toddling off to a low demand job. I do not.
3. I assumed that I would continue to be perfectly healthy. This was a bad assumption and I'm glad that I didn't work until I had to take a disability retirement.

 

[Focus]

2. I feel guilty about not working, but I really resent the time I put into the volunteer gig. I thought I would like toddling off to a low demand job. I do not.

I wonder if you'd mind elaborating a bit about this. I'm curious. What makes you feel guilty? Why did you resent the time you put into the volunteer job?

 

[eta2020]

I like what I hear except for "Time goes by much quicker than when I worked full time." but I think that indeed is the case and will be case for me as well.

 

[Focus]

I like what I hear except for "Time goes by much quicker than when I worked full time." but I think that indeed is the case and will be case for me as well.

You know what? I think you'll enjoy how it feels. Before ER, I did everything I could to slow down time during my nonwork hours. With work out of the way, I don't yearn to do that anymore. The need for that stress counterbalance is gone.

 

[freebird5825]

FIRE'd since April 1, 2007

3. Now that I have reached the 7.5 year mark, I am surprised at myself being able to actually chill out and do nothing (well at least for 30 minutes ). A lifetime of high achievement (from age 14 to age 48) and always striving for the next level has now become a life of la-de-da and growing plants for enjoyment. My accomplishment markers have completely changed.

2. I am able to maintain my weight more easily without those daily lunches that served as an escape from the cubicle in the windowless building from h*ll. I get to see the days pass in full from sunrise to sunset, not just little time snippets on break or during lunch or the drive to/from w*rk. Sometimes I just sit and watch the rain fall.

1. I thought I would stick with volunteering more in my ER. I found that the "people in groups" part of the volunteer gigs reminded me too much of the nauseating office politics I departed from. So I do small things on a 1:1 basis, i.e. favors for individuals instead of being part of a group effort. This approach is more satisfying.

 

[PERSonalTime]

Oh, I should have answered the OP too:

1. I've switched to "island time". I'm never in a hurry and I resent it when people expect me to get a lot done in a day.

2. I don't need afternoon naps anymore.

3. I've realized that a number of the projects I put off "until I have time" will never get done.

LOL! I agree completely with you mpeirce! Isn't it just grand?


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[Bryan Barnfellow]

FIRE'd since April 1, 2007

3. Now that I have reached the 7.5 year mark, I am surprised at myself being able to actually chill out and do nothing (well at least for 30 minutes ). A lifetime of high achievement (from age 14 to age 48) and always striving for the next level has now become a life of la-de-da and growing plants for enjoyment. My accomplishment markers have completely changed.

2. I am able to maintain my weight more easily without those daily lunches that served as an escape from the cubicle in the windowless building from h*ll. I get to see the days pass in full from sunrise to sunset, not just little time snippets on break or during lunch or the drive to/from w*rk. Sometimes I just sit and watch the rain fall.

1. I thought I would stick with volunteering more in my ER. I found that the "people in groups" part of the volunteer gigs reminded me too much of the nauseating office politics I departed from. So I do small things on a 1:1 basis, i.e. favors for individuals instead of being part of a group effort. This approach is more satisfying.

Freebird,
How poetic and insightful. I wish that we were neighbors.
-BB

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Sitting here today with 280 days until freedom, I am inspired and excited by the overwhelmingly positive responses. I feel like an immigrant arriving in New York harbor and glimpsing the statue of liberty!
-BB

 

[Focus]

Sitting here today with 280 days until freedom, I am inspired and excited by the overwhelmingly positive responses. I feel like an immigrant arriving in New York harbor and glimpsing the statue of liberty!
-BB

"Give me your tired ... your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" in early retirement!

 

[ArkTinkerer]

FIRE'd since April 1, 2007

1. I thought I would stick with volunteering more in my ER. I found that the "people in groups" part of the volunteer gigs reminded me too much of the nauseating office politics I departed from. So I do small things on a 1:1 basis, i.e. favors for individuals instead of being part of a group effort. This approach is more satisfying.

Not retired yet but I figured this out while working. Too many do service work as a status thing or work so hard at it they get unpleasant to be around. Bigger organizations almost always violate my rule about charities--I don't donate to charities that take government funds. Really limits my choices but I find there are a lot of small local things that need doing.

 

[Theseus]

I like what I hear except for "Time goes by much quicker than when I worked full time." but I think that indeed is the case and will be case for me as well.

My short term (2-1/2 months so far) experience has me also realizing how fast time can pass, but it is not in the sense of "fleeting" where one would feel time is passing so quickly as to be escaping - it is really more like a quite wonderful awareness of how I am enveloped within time, with the incredible freedom of choosing how I will spend it.

 

[athena53]

My surprises:

1. I sleep longer. Typically on weeknights when I was working I fell asleep around 10 or 10:30 and the alarm was set for 6:30 AM- a respectable interval. Now I don't set the alarm (woo-hoo!) and on an average morning I wake up at 7 or 7:30.

2. I didn't gain weight. I was concerned about that. I've been diligent about diet and workouts over the years and was afraid that being home with food around might mean I'd eat more. My weight is still what it was when I got out of HS, maybe because my workouts are a little longer.

3. I do NOT want to go back to work. A friend works at a large mutual fund company and she'd said at one point that they always needed part-timers to handle customer service- not selling, but processing requests to change in and out of funds. It was in the back of my mind that I could do that if I wanted. After 2 weeks of freedom I said, "Nah". I don't want to set the alarm again. My Geology class at the local community college (9 AM-noon Monday and Wednesday) is just enough structure.

 

[GTFan]

I feel the same way about computer/software depictions on TV.

My favorite is when it just takes one click to enhance a very blurry image so that it becomes crystal clear. Right....

Mine is when they show scrolling computer code, or logs, or whatever on the displays in an attempt to show how computery they are. My code always stays where I want it when I use vi.

I'll have to admit that with a couple of months to go until my ER I am nervous about what I'm going to do, even though I have a list of stuff I need to do and a wish list of other nice stuff. I have to get past the thought that there's a lot tied up in your self-worth because of work. 25 years at the same employer/same job in IT will do that to you.

 

[W2R]

I'll have to admit that with a couple of months to go until my ER I am nervous about what I'm going to do, even though I have a list of stuff I need to do and a wish list of other nice stuff.

I was a little nervous about that, too, especially since everybody at work thought I'd get bored. I made list like you did, a wish list of about two dozen things I always wanted to do or study but hadn't had time for. These ranged from playing piano again, to learning Mexican Spanish, to gardening, to going back to school to get that MBA I always wanted, and more. That list made a wonderful crutch for me and kept me from feeling bored because when I felt adrift (and sometimes I did at first), I knew I could start on my list.

Turned out I really didn't need to start on anything on that list; I just needed to know the list was there for me so I wouldn't panic. I haven't even started the first thing on that list so far during nearly 5 years of retirement. My guess would be that most intelligent people are capable of entertaining themselves; or at least, I am and I still don't have enough time for everything that comes to mind. I just didn't know this until I retired and had the opportunity to see how things went.

 

[Meadbh]

I was a little nervous about that, too, especially since everybody at work thought I'd get bored. I made list like you did, a wish list of about two dozen things I always wanted to do or study but hadn't had time for. These ranged from playing piano again, to learning Mexican Spanish, to gardening, to going back to school to get that MBA I always wanted, and more. That list made a wonderful crutch for me and kept me from feeling bored because when I felt adrift (and sometimes I did at first), I knew I could start on my list.

Turned out I really didn't need to start on anything on that list; I just needed to know the list was there for me so I wouldn't panic. I haven't even started the first thing on that list so far during nearly 5 years of retirement. My guess would be that most intelligent people are capable of entertaining themselves; or at least, I am and I still don't have enough time for everything that comes to mind. I just didn't know this until I retired and had the opportunity to see how things went.

W2R, it's amazing that your list included "get MBA". That's such an intense, busy thing to do! I got an MBA about 12 years pre-ER. It was my third degree. My ER list included not getting any more degrees. However, that doesn't mean I don't still love to learn. I have done some hands on cooking lessons (fun!) and have taken advantage of informal learning online, including a wonderful history course that I recently completed. In a few weeks I will start a creative writing course. When I was 10 years old, becoming a writer was one of my top career choices. I did a lot of scientific writing during my working years (as you did too, I'm sure) and may still delve into writing, but for pleasure this time.

 

[steelyman]

Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'.

To me, once I got "credentials", I just did what I could. I don't want to go to formal school anymore, the people I know teach me plenty.