New retiree - 2014

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PERSonalTime

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
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Just retired January 1st and adjusting to a new stress free life. However, it's strange to no longer have a connection to the old job or to the people still there. How long does it take to close the door on the "old work life" and truly begin to enjoy the exciting ER world?
 
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Congrats!

Unless you can get your old job back, the door is already closed.:facepalm:

If you miss the guys, go have lunch with them from time to time. :flowers:
 
I believe you need to have something to go ER to. In other words, a hobby to spend time on, or volunteering, or other activity to keep you busy and have some social interactions. Make new friends, but it is OK to still have the old work friends. They just transition from work everyday contacts to occasional contacts.

I can't wait to get out, my personal feeling will be "don't let the door hit your backside on the way out on the last day". But then I have a lot of things planned or already in progress to keep me busy. Just need to get to the point of having enough financial security to make the ER plunge.
 
About 5 minutes for most of us serious FIRE'ers.
No, actually I have no clue since I'm a decade away from your success. I agree with seeking out something new that hopefully will become really enjoyable and fulfilling for you. Finding additional people to have fun with outside the prev workplace is key.
 
Hmm, I retired almost 4 years ago and haven't looked back once. Started volunteering with the seniors at the community center. Made new friends. Have lunch with old friends. Life is good. Never thought working in the kitchen at the local community center could be so much fun and so rewarding! Good luck figuring it all out!
 
Thanks for the responses. I've already started going to the gym more often and DW has the obligatory long list of honey-dos to do around the house. I'm certainly not missing the stress associated with the old job.

Actually, I'm really enjoying the freedom that comes along with ER! Has anyone experienced similar feeling as they transitioned into ER?
 
PERSonalTime said:
Just retired January 1st and adjusting to a new stress free life. However, it's strange to no longer have a connection to the old job or to the people still there. How long does it take to close the door on the "old work life" and truly begin to enjoy the exciting ER world?
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Congrats. I retired effective Jan 11, 2014. Age 49 and some change. I have been told for some it takes 3-6 months.

For me, once I tie up some loose ends, i.e., financial issues. Next month I'll roll my gov TSP into an IRA, my lump sum annual leave payout should arrive in a few weeks and then I wait for the Office of Personnel Management to finalize my retirement and give my my official monthly numbers. Once that is all complete hopefully I'll be able to relax and truly begin to enjoy ER.

As the wife says - fun, travel and more fun. ;)
 
Kaufmanrider said:
Next month I'll roll my gov TSP into an IRA,
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Isn't the TSP better than an IRA (assuming you believe in indexing)? The costs are much lower, usually. You might want to rethink this before pulling the plug.
 
PERSonalTime said:
Just retired January 1st and adjusting to a new stress free life. However, it's strange to no longer have a connection to the old job or to the people still there. How long does it take to close the door on the "old work life" and truly begin to enjoy the exciting ER world?
Click to expand...
It takes a while, how much varies from person to person. I still think about the people I enjoyed working with from time to time after 2½ years, but I don't think about the work itself thank goodness. Could take weeks, months or years and obviously it's not a clean break, you just realize you've adjusted one day in retrospect. The more active your new life is, the sooner you'll forget the previous chapter...
 
Midpack thanks for the response! I am finding that as time goes by, day by day, I think less about the old job and more about being ER'd. It better not take years for me to get used to this or something's wrong with me LOL. Actually, when they take your office keys, your ID, and delete you from the email system it's pretty obvious that THEY'VE closed the door! But when one door closes luckily another door opens and I'm so happy that it's the ER door that's opened!
 
I miss the work with the people, but I agree, once you walk out that door, you are history. I find it hard to let go sometimes because I had so much unfinished business, and the level of competence remaining is not very good. hence, I have this nagging feeling that I have let down many of our customers. Does that sound weird or what? I have to learn to lookout for DW and I 1st now instead of giving all to mega corp. Maybe this ER is a deprograming process............I have been mega corp brain washed and not in my right mind! ha!
 
Retired going on four years-- it was a bit of an adjustment as you are going st a frantic pace for many years and the all of a sudden stop. However the freedom is unbelievable-- have to appreciate it each day. DW retired this year which made a big difference. We both got our real estate license and are having a blast meeting new people making a little extra money- but only working a few hours a week
 
Decharles that sums up my situation exactly. In the course of pursuing a career and doing everything you can for the employer, one can easily get your priorities "twisted." ER has clarify the fact that God, DW and family are one first and foremost focus in life. The job was there before you and will go on long after you gone.
 
right
PERSonalTime said:
Decharles that sums up my situation exactly. In the course of pursuing a career and doing everything you can for the employer, one can easily get your priorities "twisted." ER has clarify the fact that God, DW and family are one first and foremost focus in life. The job was there before you and will go on long after you gone.
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Thanks PERSonalTime! Sometimes, you know deep down what is the right thing to do while external forces coming from mega crop can lay on the guilt trip and fear of failure and all those nasty little ploys to keep us marching in line! ER is certainly a liberating experience and all the comments on this site help me let go. I guess that is the phase I feel I'm going through right now......."letting go" and moving on and NOT looking back! Actually, once our heads get cleared out of the mega corp fog, I believe we will be able to see the truth which is not found in some HR Management program on leadership and incentive payment programs. Ha! How dumb I feel to be sucked into the mega corp culture....... .like a cult of some sorts! ha!
 
Guys,
I think the "fog" is clearing for me. On any give day, I'm starting to forget what the actual day of the week is! I guess I'm happily making a transition to a real ER lifestyle.
 
The big thing for me when I retired just over a year ago was when I realized that for the first time since I was 18, I wasn't under deadline pressure. No project milestones, no status reports, nobody with any say over where I go or what I'm doing. That took maybe half an hour after the end of my last day. And I don't miss it a bit (well, other than the paycheck hitting the bank every two weeks). Still in contact with a few of the people I like, and that's more than enough for me. Then again, I spent the first month afterwards traveling and playing some baseball tournaments, so it was just like going on vacation - without thinking about going back.
 
Kaufmanrider said:
Congrats. I retired effective Jan 11, 2014. Age 49 and some change. I have been told for some it takes 3-6 months.

For me, once I tie up some loose ends, i.e., financial issues. Next month I'll roll my gov TSP into an IRA, my lump sum annual leave payout should arrive in a few weeks and then I wait for the Office of Personnel Management to finalize my retirement and give my my official monthly numbers. Once that is all complete hopefully I'll be able to relax and truly begin to enjoy ER.

As the wife says - fun, travel and more fun. ;)
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I retired the same day, too. And just like you, waiting till Uncle Sam gets me finalized, too. I am 56 and plan to roll my TSP into my Vanguard IRA's when I hit 60. I have been maxing out our IRA's too all these years and those accounts have really been growing. With our frugal living all these years, it's hard to imagine having more money coming in from not working...than when working. And that's not even counting the IRA money available at 59 1/2. Somehow it seems unreal...is this a dream or what?

As to relaxing, I am beginning to unwind now and feel a lot better. Life is great! I walk around smiling. I won the lottery! And you did too!
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/lottery-poll-70263.html

I don't miss the work but do miss a few of the people. Most of them I don't.

Something Gumby wrote on this site years ago is coming true. I have always remembered it. And here it is:

"I've had friends who've asked me, "So what's retirement like?". My answer to them is, "Remember when you were a little kid...before the big people sent you to kindergarten? Remember those seemingly endless days of play? Those days when you got up and ate breakfast, then went out to play? Then you'd come in for lunch and a nap, and then go back out to play until supper time? Then after supper you'd go out to play until dark or until bedtime...whichever you could get away with? Then you'd start all over the next day? Well, that's what retirement is like!!!".
 
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Moving On . . .

Was a concern of mine after so many years at the same workplace and a very rigid, demanding schedule. My last day was December 20. When I saw the post about The Fog of Work, I went back and reread it. Thanks to Nords for so many nuggets of truth in that piece. Things have gone very well for me. I have more of a go with the flow attitude. Did sleep a lot at first, but my body has adjusted. I take a long walk first thing in the morning and do exercise 4 or 5 times a week.
My plan was to get in better shape so everything else must fit around the walking/exercising. As everything has settled a bit, I realize how very ready I was to move on to a new life and have my time be MY TIME. I do miss the interactions with students and teachers, but not the actual work. This RE life is very good indeed!:dance:
 
The Fog of Work really made since to me. No wonder it has taken time to adjust! I have been feeling guilty for leaving behind unfinished business and not being able to fix things. I hope this guilty and sad feeling goes away soon as I truly see the advantages of ER!
 
Dcharles said:
The Fog of Work really made since to me. No wonder it has taken time to adjust! I have been feeling guilty for leaving behind unfinished business and not being able to fix things. I hope this guilty and sad feeling goes away soon as I truly see the advantages of ER!
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Gotta let it go. There was work to do at that place before you arrived and work to do after you left. It's amazing how we all get so caught up in the moment while at work and worry about stuff that really simply doesn't matter.
 
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