Concerned about being bored in ER.

[David1961]

Thanks to everyone who replied. Some great ideas and things to think about. Having this nest egg does give me many options - sometimes having too many options is stressful.

 

[Milton]

Hello David,

Here is a link that may perhaps be of some interest: Early Retirement.

Regards,

Milton

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Thanks to everyone who replied. Some great ideas and things to think about. Having this nest egg does give me many options - sometimes having too many options is stressful.

to paraphrase dory36 when i joined this forum and was first trying to come to grips with all these new possibilities: what a nice problem to have, he said.

i think a few things keep me from being bored. one is that i am easily amused and quick to laugh especially at myself. while i never took life all that seriously in the short-run, i have always worked to know myself and to understand the world in which i find myself, even at the risk of discovering things which i might not like or what might be just down right scary.

one of the things which makes me think that i would rather be dead than suffer alzheimer's (per a concurrent thread) is that then i would lose the ability to learn, to grow, to even question & to explore myself & this world. besides wanting to be here for mom, those are the things which have made my life worth living. well, that, the beer and the sex.

people get bored when they stop challenging themselves. maybe you are single and a good challenge would be developing an intimate relationship. maybe you have been in a bad marriage and a good challenge would be to see how you handle life solo.

i have been traveling vicariously through the pages of national geographic since i can remember, but i have yet to as much as run away from home. so the challenge i've set for myself in early retirement is a vagabond life. i don't mind saying that i'm scared. so i'm easing myself into it.

my first trip to the blue ridge mountains saw me running back home after just a few days away. my last trip to the smokey mountains kept me out of the house for almost 2 weeks. even though 9 days of that was with family, i'm still counting it as time on the road. next month i'm doing a road trip to new york during the height of hurricane season and this scares the hell out of me to abandon my house at this time.

but i gotta get myself used to the uncertainties if i ever want to take advantage of the possibilities. and even if the house gets hit while i'm away at least it won't be boring.

 

[Bigritchie]

David,

Let us look at worst case scenario.

You are a bored free man, that can pretty much do whatever you want.

or you are a slave to a J*B.

For this excellent advice I will charge you one martini one day if we meet!

 

[Lancelot]

Did you ever get the bike?

No chance!

My parents bought me my first bike when I was six. I cut lawns and bought a three speed when I was 12

 

[Rustic23]

At age 45 I retired from the Air Force. Could have stayed retired, but really was not ready. Went into business for myself as a Real Estate appraiser ended up working for a large bank. Did that for 10 years and then retired again. Stayed home played with computers, took long walks, generally did the mess around. Got an offer to be an MIS director for county government. Worked another 7 years. This was different than any other work I have done. You see when you do something you like, and you know and your boss knows, you don’t need the job, things are truly different. He forgot that, retired again. Live on a lake, take long walks, play with the dog, read this forum, read an occasional book, tend the yard, sleep late in the morning, generally do ‘whatever!’. Would I go back to work…. Sure, if someone offers me the right job. Right now, however, I can’t conceive what that would be.

So, ‘What will you do’, what ever you want! And, that is what, IMHO is what retirement is all about!