have a routine - out of house by 9/10am?

Rambler said:
Walt, weren't you gonna go back to work for a while due to boredom and some bucks for the travel trailer? Just wondered, because I'm considering the TT or RV myself, and as much as I hate to admit it, I fear boredom a bit, after the main things I want/need to get done are in fact done. DW fears my boredom more than I do though...:D

R
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Yup. Already did all the training/qualifications, I'm waiting on the security clearance, I expect that to take many months. If DW won't go for the travel trailer - she's fence-sitting about it - I'll buy either a Harley or a light sport airplane. Or maybe get the TT anyway and just go by myself.

But the weather is getting better and that expands the list of entertaining things to do.
 
I'm not there yet, but I imagine a few months into ER, I'll feel like I'm wasting time. I bet it takes a while to slow down and step out of the rat race.
 
haha said:
I have a little shopping area that is about a one mile walk RT from my apt. I often go down there fairly early and have an espresso and read the NYT.

Or, maybe I decide I want something for breakfast that I don't have in the house- so I go to the supermarket in that same area.

The walk wakes me up, and I tend to feel better all day no meatter what else I do later.

Ha
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I read somewhere that one of the easiest way to improve your physical and mental health is a 30 minute walk every day and at least one conversation daily with a person you know (friend, relative etc).
 
sarahsays said:
I bet it takes a while to slow down and step out of the rat race.
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For me, it was like having been in one of those revolving doors for years! You go 'round & 'round & 'round....and not really going anywhere. Then all of a sudden one day.....you actually step out of the daily 'round & 'round routine! Now you're out in the freshest air that you've ever breathed, under a biggest, bluest sky imaginable , and the sun is shining brighter than you've ever noticed....AND you're not chasing your tail anymore! The door continues to go 'round & 'round.......but you don't care....because your not in it anymore....you've been set free! If you focus on exploring the vastness of this new phase of your life, you'll never even notice that the revolving door is fading off into the distance of yesterday. :D
 
Goonie said:
For me, it was like having been in one of those revolving doors for years! You go 'round & 'round & 'round....and not really going anywhere. Then all of a sudden one day.....you actually step out of the daily 'round & 'round routine! Now you're out in the freshest air that you've ever breathed, under a biggest, bluest sky imaginable , and the sun is shining brighter than you've ever noticed....AND you're not chasing your tail anymore! The door continues to go 'round & 'round.......but you don't care....because your not in it anymore....you've been set free! If you focus on exploring the vastness of this new phase of your life, you'll never even notice that the revolving door is fading off into the distance of yesterday. :D
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Thanks for that little glimpse of the future that so many of us are longing for! :D
 
My folks are both 86. Mom sleeps in until 8am ± but no alarm clock most days and does 'chores' or other tasks without much of a plan. Dad plays golf 2-3 times a week and gets up early and goes 'shopping' every other morning. When I asked Mom why he does that, she says 'it's his job, he needs a reason to get up and go somewhere every day.' He doesn't usually buy anything or something inexpensive but needed. After 26 years retired, he's still happier going to his 'job' every Mon thru Fri. YMMV...
 
Having been a structured person who wanted to cram every thing I possibly could into limited leisure time, it has been absolutely wonderful to have no structure and unlimited leisure time. I don't even feel like I'm piddling it away if I just stay home all day, play online and read.

After 30 years of getting up everyday at 5:30, we now sleep until 7 or 8. We joined a meetup group to have coffee with a bunch of people at 9 a.m.---just once a month----and even that is now an effort. We don't love setting the alarm for 7, but have suddenly become very social after years of not wanting to interact with people outside of work since work had drained us too much, so we make the sacrifice once a month.

We do try to have a little structure, like once or twice a week out for coffee or lunch, days for errands, but in no way do we need a daily/rigid structure. It hasn't been even two years, so I guess I could feel differently after five or ten, but I doubt it!
 
I'd expect that for the first 30 days of retirement after all things are settled - I'd start getting in a routine where I'd have plans made up for the day. I could see that 30-40 yrs of retired life without a purpose other than to see what the day brought would leave to depression and hopelessness after a while. I think I'd need to work with some sort of schedule giving me a meaningful day, just without "working for a living" -
 
lazygood4nothinbum said:
today i got up at the crack of noon. fortunately i didn't oversleep so i had a good day. right before rush hour, a few minutes before 4pm, i set out for an evening ride in the everglades, with very little traffic, i got out there by 4:30, just in time to ride for a few hours before sunset. while everyone else was in rush-hour traffic, this is what i got to enjoy & what i might have missed had i started my day too early or on schedule (pics do not include the great blue herons, white ones, little blue herons--gorgeous--two hawks and various other species that refused to stop mid air so i could take their picture):

img_638782_0_5049ab371aa12bd69cde41c365f53b1f.jpg



img_638782_1_e59e1d683a2e194462e1578d2b0ee1a0.jpg
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Awwwwwwwww. Did you pet the little gators?:)
 
retiringat50 said:
Do you find it helps (especially when you first "early retire") to have someplace to go and get out of the house early? (Not as early as work life)
If not it feels like youre wasting your day?
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Why, yes, the surf is better before the wind kicks up-- hence the expression "morning glass". And any day not spent surfing could quite possibly be viewed as wasted.

I also try to shave on Mondays & Thursdays if the day's not already too busy. I don't usually wear a wristwatch so the shaving (or lack thereof) helps me determine what day it is. This is critical to avoid accidentally attempting to run errands on the weekend with thousands of your ex-co-workers clogging the formerly peaceful surroundings.

But you really have to be ready to be responsible for your own entertainment, and that may mean staying in bed all day (even if it's by yourself) or puttering around in fuzzy bunny slippers until 4 PM. Anyone can submit to a draconian authoritarian schedule-- it's called "work". The real zen challenge lies in finding your own peace among the chaos without feeling society's obligations to impose order upon yourself or on others.

By any chance, R@50, do you live with someone who feels compelled to find something for you to do if you don't find it first? In that case I'd completely understand clearing datum as early as possible.
 
I've found that making a daily to-do list is the solution for me. I can't stand the too much structure, but if I don't have any, I can get lost in surfing the net all day and not be able to sleep because I haven't had any exercise.

My routine these days is to wake up whenever I am fully rested, typically around 8-9am, clean the apartment (it just feels good to start the day with a clean house, and I'm too lazy to do it at night), then sit down and make a to-do list for the day, on little post-it notes which I stick inside my wallet. If something doesn't get done from the list no problem, just reuse that post-it note the next day.

Today was a pretty excellent San Francisco day: Rode my bike to a beginner morning at the local Zen center, scoped out a few barbers in the Castro figuring they would be good at cutting men's hair, decided I was too straight for that scene, enjoyed a bagel sandwich at a sidewalk cafe, found a good Asian run hair salon near me and got my mane trimmed, bicycled through Golden Gate park to the ocean and watched the kite surfers, and then came home and helped my thankful sister with a computer issue over the phone.

I notice that most of my great days have exercise and some human interaction in them.
 
free4now said:
I notice that most of my great days have exercise and some human interaction in them.
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Your day does sound very good. I have the same needs as you appear to have- have to get considerable physical activity, and have to see some people I like.

Lately I have been kind of shut down on heavy exercise as I seem to have one nagging muscle problem after another. My chiropractor thinks they might be msotly secondary to a car crash a couple years back.

Anyway, I walk, walk frequently, and walk long. Downtown is my favorite destination as there is so much to do.

I lived in the Castro very early 70s. Either it was mostly straight then, or I was too dumb to read the scene. When I went back, I think it was around 1976, it had totally changed.

San Francisco is a great city.

Ha
 
Am retired now but like to get up around 5:30, make breakfast for me and DW, who gets up around 6:00. After breakfast, she takes over the chores while I go out, get a newspaper and read it in the plaza across the street.

Why get up so early? One is to beat the heat here in this tropical climate. But the other is a perspective that DW instilled in me when we were first married: There's plenty of time to sleep after you're dead.
 
We usually get up when the dogs need to go out...7-7:30 AM.
Coffee and breakfast while we chat about the events for the day.
Shower and dress for the day. Usually sweats or jeans (Winter is still here). Shorts in the summer with sandals or no shoes.

We tend to split up during the day and meet back together at dinner. Now that the house remodeling and pre-listing activities are done we expect to be less frantic until the house sells.

We have been so busy since we retired that we have not had the time to get bored. Heck, we have not had the time to really relax either. That will change and we are preparing for the next phase of our retirement....lesuire and fun.
 
I must be the only freak here that still gets up really early like 6 a.m. Sometimes 4 a.m., sometimes 8 a.m. Why can't I be like the rest of you and sleep longer, I wonder? Hmmmm......and I even do this on mornings when I have worked out like crazy the night before. Now this is irritating....unfair I say!
 
Orchidflower said:
I must be the only freak here that still gets up really early like 6 a.m. Sometimes 4 a.m., sometimes 8 a.m. Why can't I be like the rest of you and sleep longer, I wonder? Hmmmm......and I even do this on mornings when I have worked out like crazy the night before. Now this is irritating....unfair I say!
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There is nothing more peaceful than enjoying an early cup of coffee in the garden at dawn, listening to the birds as they begin their morning songs and watching the faint light of dawn wash over everything.

I had always thought that I would get up early in ER, because I love those early morning hours so. But during recent vacations I have found a tendency to sleep in until 8-9 AM. So maybe I will be one of those who sleeps in, too.

Or, maybe I will set the alarm. >:D
 
Orchidflower said:
I must be the only freak here that still gets up really early like 6 a.m. Sometimes 4 a.m., sometimes 8 a.m. Why can't I be like the rest of you and sleep longer, I wonder? Hmmmm......and I even do this on mornings when I have worked out like crazy the night before. Now this is irritating....unfair I say!
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I'm usually up at 5. I like to watch the sunrise. Sometimes I feel like sleeping until 8 or 9 and then that’s what I do.
 
Recently I've been sleeping in until about 7am or maybe 7:30am. But actually that's because I've been popping benadryl (2 tablets before bed) because of allergies at this time of year. I think the extra sleep (around 9 hours) is nice but not essential. I could probably do with 7 to 8 hours sleep very nicely. Am I missing something in life? Orchirdflower's got me wondering just like we appear to have her wondering. The grass is always greener ...
 
Orchidflower said:
I must be the only freak here that still gets up really early like 6 a.m. Sometimes 4 a.m., sometimes 8 a.m. Why can't I be like the rest of you and sleep longer, I wonder? Hmmmm......and I even do this on mornings when I have worked out like crazy the night before. Now this is irritating....unfair I say!
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I didn't say I woke up at 7...I get up at 7...I still wake up at 5 AM but the nice thing is I can snuggle up to DW and go back to sleep now.

The body clock is a tough one to reset. After waking up at 5 or so for decades the Bioclock alarm still goes off at that time. I guess in time it will fade away. It is still better than actually getting up at that time. Oh the joys of not working anymore. :D
 
I only set the alarm for those rare days when I HAVE to be somewhere for an appointment; the rest of the time I tend to get up around 7:30 or so when the dogs start begging to be let outside. And I love to turn on the TV and watch the traffic reports about the daily jams on my former route to work!

When I first retired (12/06), my sleeping habits were all out of whack. For decades I slept on average 5 to 5-1/2 hours a night, waking at 5 or 5:15 am (and feeling grumpy more often than not)-- and then sleeping 10 to 11 hours a night on weekends or days off. For about two months after leaving work, I was sleeping longer, but was less rested because of work related dreams (more like nightmares!) Now, I get 8 to 9 hours of good, restorative sleep every night and feel wonderful throughout the day.

I do keep a rudimentary to-do list, just to keep from forgetting to replenish groceries, pay the bills on time etc. And I may look at it every day...or I might not. That's the wonder of retirement!
 
Orchidflower said:
I must be the only freak here that still gets up really early like 6 a.m. Sometimes 4 a.m., sometimes 8 a.m. Why can't I be like the rest of you and sleep longer, I wonder? Hmmmm......and I even do this on mornings when I have worked out like crazy the night before. Now this is irritating....unfair I say!
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My excuse is that I spent all those years getting up for the 0600-1200 watch. I'm usually up by 4 AM, occasionally at 3 AM, and never past 5:30.

But the naps help a lot. I'd hate to give those up just for a longer night's sleep...
 
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