How did you feel the first time?

[retire@40]

Yeah... I think he should have said, no one is too young to WANT to retire?

That too.

 

[Bob_Smith]

...So did anyone else not feel as excited about going on vacations after they retired? Or how did your perspective change about vacationing after you retired?

Hi Brand New Day. I suppose the same question could be posed about any activity one enjoyed (or despised) prior to retirement. Have previously enjoyable activities lost some of their appeal? Conversely, are some of the crappy ones less of a pain? For me I would have to say that there was a fairly significant realignment:

--Vacation: I'm somewhat less interested for all the reasons wab mentioned. My tolerance for the hassles associated with travel has declined, while the appreciation of my own back yard has increased.
--Restaurants: Less interest. There are only two items we can't cook better than a restaurant - fish (it's tough to buy good fish in Iowa), and "Brown Bottle" (an Iowa restaurant) lasagna. Otherwise, eating at a restaurant is usually a downgrade. Before retirement it was a welcome convenience. Now it isn't worth it.
--Appointments (dentist, haircut, whatever): Before retirement an appointment was just one more thing to squeeze into the schedule - it was no big deal. Now it is a much bigger annoyance. It screws up the day. I don't know why.
--Jobs around the house/yard: Before retirement I hated household jobs. It consumed time that could have been spent doing things I wanted to do. Now I almost enjoy them. I set aside two-three hours a day for such jobs and quit whether I'm done or not - there's always tomorrow. Plus, I try not to do the half-assed, amateur jerry-rigging I used to do, and find there's more satisfaction when I do it right.
--Investing: Big decline in interest. My investments are pretty much on auto-pilot. I'm of the opinion that tinkering makes things worse, but irregardless, now that I'm retired I no longer spend much time thinking about investments. It used to be a big interest. I thought I'd be inclined to worry about money in retirement. I don't - not in the least.
--TV: Less interest. We watch about one hour per night (if we're home).
--General learning: Much more interest. I'm enjoying learning about a wide range of things that I had no clue about before.
--Religious Faith: Before retirement I just kind of went through the motions and did what I was taught to do as a kid, and raised my kids likewise. It had always been my intent to delve into my faith in much greater detail when I had more time - to become more disciplined, vigorous, and active in that area. The opposite has occurred. By examining it in much greater detail, I have come to question its basic tenets. I'm still sorting it out.
--Music: More interest. (BTW, we just went to a Joan Baez concert Friday night; she was outstanding. But when we walked into the lobby of the concert hall the people looked so old I thought we must have stumbled into a Lawrence Welk concert.). Anyway, I find myself enjoying music again as I did when I was a teenager. I don't know why.
--Nature/Outdoors: Much more interest. I'm appreciating beauty that I hardly noticed before.

Bottom line: For me early retirement has brought about many more fundamental changes than the absence of a job and time to do what I want. I'm still going through the process (retired 2 1/2 years).

 

[Brand New Day]

WOW! Great reading everyone, thanks for the replys.

I see we have all had different experiences since ERing, and I haven't seen anyone say they are going back to work, me neither, I'm liking this retired mode.

I can see some of you doing the things you mention, as I do them also. Life is certainly much more simple and enjoyable when you have to time to do life at your own pace, instead of jaming it into a preset schedule.

Audrey, we can relate to your sailing experience, the boat is escape from reality, and sailing was relaxing, but we also just use it as cheap waterfront condo, where we can just kick back and relax on weekends with or without friends on board. Did you have a desire to take your boat to the Caribbean and live on it for at least one winter, or travel down the ICW to FL?

It is great to be retired and I am sure we will have a great time next week in the Dominican Republic. It is our first trip to that island, so a new learning experience for us to enjoy.

Again, thanks everyone for your experiences and comments.

Bill

 

[ESRBob]

Bob Smith,
Wow, great to see you here again! As in old times, thoughtful and complete post.

Hey, did you move to be closer to your parents or are you still in the same part of Iowa.

(Also, I hope you had a chance to see your profile in Work Less Live More -- it's on page 14)

As to the original post, I think it is very normal as the other replies here have pointed out. Things slowly change in retirement -- some things get more interesting, some less. I especially agreed with the point that you'll really feel different on the night before you return home from vacation -- your wife will likely feel really stressed and depressed (as you probably used to), and you'll be feeling like life is just one big all-you-can-eat buffet.

I do know that travel expenses can start to seem a little jarring when you are on the ER budget -- that may also have something to do with your loss of interest.

 

[Bob_Smith]

Hey, did you move to be closer to your parents or are you still in the same part of Iowa.

Hi ESRBob!

So how has the whole publishing experience gone for you? I haven't read your book yet, but plan to do so.

We came very close to moving. However, in the end, we decided to stay where we are. We have an adult son with disabilities who lives with us. He is very well known in our town; there are few in our community who don't know him. He works part-time in a job that puts him into contact with a lot of people every day, and he loves it. The original plan was to work out a transfer to the same job in the new town, which we certainly could have done. Ultimately we decided that we just couldn't count on re-creating what he had here... there's just so much history here. Most in our community have known him since he was a child. So we decided not to risk it.

 

[ESRBob]

Bob,
Thx for the update and I definitely understand the reasons for staying in your community based on your son's being so well-integrated there. Our neighbors have a grown son in the same situation and will stay here long term as a result. Actually lots of people seem to want to stay where they are even after they retire just because of the value of those friendships and relationships built up over many years.

Publishing experience was great -- book sales were brisk for six months, a little less so in the last six months, but we always knew we ER types are a niche market! Did a bit of press tour stuff which was fun but the writing part was what I enjoyed most. These days I'm just spending a lot of time making sculptures and thinking about how to get my kids to improve their math scores...

Anyway, welcome back!