did you immediately start living a life of relaxation or did it take a while?

[retiringat50]

Last day of work was May 21st. Been out on sick time 6wks till this past weekend.
Now Im into 4wks vacation time and then Early Retirement will begin.
Im finding it hard to give myself permission, tell myself its ok to relax. Thats all I Need to do in life at the moment - RELAX
Did it take a while for you to just sit back, realize you didnt have anything pressing?

 

[Khan]

Last day of work was May 21st. Been out on sick time 6wks till this past weekend.
Now Im into 4wks vacation time and then Early Retirement will begin.
Im finding it hard to give myself permission, tell myself its ok to relax. Thats all I Need to do in life at the moment - RELAX
Did it take a while for you to just sit back, realize you didnt have anything pressing?

The "Sunday afternoon blues" tapered off over about 2 months.

 

[Goonie]

did you immediately start living a life of relaxation or did it take a while?

Did it take a while for you to just sit back, realize you didnt have anything pressing?

I was fortunate because they hired my replacement several months before I ER'd, so after spending about a month training him, they told me to get lost. So I moved out of [-]my[/-] the lab to the workshop, and piddled around, drank coffee, listened to the radio, goofed off, relaxed, read, etc, for about 3-4 months. So by the time I walked out the door for the last time, I was well-versed and well-practiced in the fine art of relaxation. They paid me quite well for that ER 'practice time', and literally expected me to do absolutely NOTHING except be physically present.

So actually there wasn't really any transition period from working to retired. The only major difference was that I no longer had to get up at 5 a.m. and punch a time clock. I think the 5 minute drive home the last day was plenty of time to acclimate to my new lifestyle.

I was paid for 30+ years to be there......Now I'm being paid for the rest of my life to stay away! Life Is Great!!!

 

[OldGuy]

ERat50, I still do have things that are pressing - whether to play golf in the am or pm; to brew another pot of coffee or not; start that new book today or wait until the pressure of golf/coffee goes away... It's not easy being ER'd (snicker...)

 

[Joss]

I'm right at six months now and not going to work seems "normal". But I can't tell you when it changed. The Sunday blues Khan mentions go away. Now it's hard for me to tell you what day of the week it is. As to the date... haven't got a clue.

 

[megacorp-firee]

I started easing into retirement about 6 months before doing so. By the time I got there, I took off the training wheels and 'let it all hang out'.

 

[Moemg]

The first time I retired it did not take and I went back to work for one day a week. The second time I was ready and jumped right into it .

 

[travelover]

For about the first 4 to 6 months I put on a burst of energy to catch up on home maintenance and remodeling, then got really lazy. I've been doing some volunteer work once a week at most, but even that seems too confining.

I think everyone is different and you just need to listen to yourself and drown out thoughts of other's expectations.

Unless of course it is your SO's expectations.

 

[blessed]

Now it is like an out-of-body experience! You look at other people struggling in pain,exhaustion, frustration and think... Oh, I remember that.... it no longer applies. Life is very relaxing and you can be as "involved" as you want to be. I think it took me one year to get to this point.

 

[Khan]

Now it is like an out-of-body experience! You look at other people struggling in pain,exhaustion, frustration and think... Oh, I remember that.... it no longer applies. Life is very relaxing and you can be as "involved" as you want to be. I think it took me one year to get to this point.

Excellent description.

 

[Lsbcal]

Im finding it hard to give myself permission, tell myself its ok to relax. Thats all I Need to do in life at the moment - RELAX

Many days I try to do something useful during the day which seems to be the best way for me to feel useful and feel like it's OK now to relax. It can be something as simple as washing the car or mowing the lawn. Some days I get very busy and then the next day just goof around on purpose -- read a book, watch the birds, talk to the dog.

It took me many months to feel comfortable with my new ER status. Partly this was because I went back to work part time for awhile.

 

[theloneranger]

Not retired yet, but my replaacement is coming along nicely. I am now delegating EVERYTHING to her or someone else and monitoring their progress.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

ERat50, I still do have things that are pressing - whether to play golf in the am or pm; to brew another pot of coffee or not; start that new book today or wait until the pressure of golf/coffee goes away... It's not easy being ER'd (snicker...)

Geez, what would the world do without a type-A personality like you? I'm just enviously kidding.

 

[heyyou]

I try to relax after my post-lunch nap.
We now have his and hers recliners. They almost match but came from different thrift stores in this mostly retirement community.

 

[Nords]

Did it take a while for you to just sit back, realize you didnt have anything pressing?

I'm with OldGuy-- ER is no time for relaxation. Get going!

The first day of my terminal leave (before ER officially started) I walked up to our local rec center and started swimming laps to build up my surfing muscles and aerobic endurance. (I built up to a mile.) Then I spent time on the Internet learning about surfboards, requesting surfing books from the library, and looking at the sales on Craigslist. Why, some days I barely had enough time left over for naps or reading or home improvement or whatever else spouse thought I should be doing with her.

For the first month of leave, those naps were 2-3 hours long. I must've been chronically fatigued. Today they're more like 30-45 minutes.

I kept up this brutal routine for nearly three months (including the naps), but it was worth it to be able to paddle into those waves on my first official day of ER and stand up. It was good to be able to buy a few used boards, get my water skills, and then go shopping for a nicer one. And it's been worth it to cajole our kid to spend quality time on the waves with her dad.

We've taken the same approach with taekwondo, the house & yard, the rental property, and other new skills. And I still take naps.

As the word spreads that you're ER'd, be careful. A friend of spouse retired from the service a couple years ago. She admits that most of her time-management problems stem from being unable to simply say "No, thanks". As a result she's found it easier to get paid to work a 30-hour week than to submit to volunteering for 50-hour weeks. This woman so desperately needs a copy of Bob Clyatt's books and one or two from Ernie Zelinski.

 

[Gotadimple]

I kept up this brutal routine for nearly three months (including the naps), but it was worth it to be able to paddle into those waves on my first official day of ER and stand up. It was good to be able to buy a few used boards, get my water skills, and then go shopping for a nicer one.

That's the ticket!!!

Focus, focus, focus.

Tomorrow is my last official day on leave and then I'm off on vacation. What have I done for the last 60 days? Why plan vacation, of course, and . . . take naps.

What a life!
Rita

 

[CuppaJoe]

Help. I'm thinking my first month's plan is too ambitious: Hang out at a different coffee shop every few days and do next to nothing in between. Can you suggest ways to cut this plan down to something less stressful? Decaf is out of the question as my "white coat" blood pressure is already low now. Thank g*d there are tour guides here.

 

[REWahoo]

Cut the number of different coffee shops in half. No reason to stress yourself out.

 

[Dawg52]

No adjustment for me. I retired at the best time of the year for a golfer. Early Spring.

 

[Lsbcal]

To reduce stress while at coffee shop, leave that copy of War and Peace at home.

 

[CuppaJoe]

To reduce stress while at coffee shop, leave that copy of War and Peace at home.

Calm down, calm down, stop saying these are really dangerous, stressfull waters. I transferred "War and Peace" from the e-book to an SD card attached to the e-book. Note to self: leave the SD card in a drawer; do not pick up that "free" paper, the cross-word puzzle might be too taxing. Load the e-book with humor.

Yeah, maybe stick to the rut I already know, the same coffee shop for a few months and fan out gradually. Think it would be ok to continue photographing "coffee shop dogs"? It does take some w*rk to delete the bad shots. Entry-level ERs need to proceed slowly.

 

[Finance Dave]

I'm right at six months now and not going to work seems "normal". But I can't tell you when it changed. The Sunday blues Khan mentions go away. Now it's hard for me to tell you what day of the week it is. As to the date... haven't got a clue.

I love hearing things like the "I don't know what day it is" comment...I look forward to that.

And, here's my recommendation for a new household item.

http://tommcmahon.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/05/dayclock2.jpg

 

[Gsquared]

My last week of "work" I took a couple days off for "practice"...I didn't want to get to this wonderful milestone and screw it up. I've been like a kid in a candy store...

 

[Goonie]

I love hearing things like the "I don't know what day it is" comment...I look forward to that.

And, here's my recommendation for a new household item.

http://tommcmahon.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/05/dayclock2.jpg

What's really nice though, is that some of us (well myself anyway) not only don't know what day it is.....we don't even care what day it is!

(I have considered one of those clocks though. )

 

[audreyh1]

My last week of "work" I took a couple days off for "practice"...I didn't want to get to this wonderful milestone and screw it up. I've been like a kid in a candy store...

I did something like that. I found out that I had one extra week of vacation that I would not be paid for - I had gone over the accrued limit.

So I proposed to my replacement that I take a week vacation off, and then come back for a week. He thought that was a great idea as it would help them figure out what they still needed to learn.

So I spent the week "playing" at being retired. It was great fun - we rode bikes, played tennis, cooked, went sailing a lot.

Then I went back for my final week of work.

I had a trip planned for right after retirement. So as soon as I did really retire, DH and I were really busy getting ready for this trip and then going on it. This turned out to be more like the real thing than the "practice" week. But still, it was a neat way to transition.

Audrey