Dreadful Sunday night. How many more?

[Sarah in SC]

After all these already retired folks chimed in to make you feel worse, lol, I'll pop up with a comment on shared misery. Yes, Sunday nights are awful, and the dread seems to rise up earlier and earlier with each passing month.

Mondays are when the time stretches infinitely into the future, and even Friday seems very far away. Let's hope we live long enough to enjoy more than a few Mondays like the rest of the gang.

 

[marko]

I have a colleague that wanted to "optimized" his pension and intended to work another year. He passed away during the Christmas break.

Had a colleague with the same plan and outcome. Died at 64 after a four month retirement, most of it spent in a hospital.

Carpe diem.

 

[karen1972]

Sometimes its a double edged sword, my father (81 in 3 weeks) is still working, but plans to retire this year and he's predicting his demise.. as he said, every friend he's had seems to die shortly after retiring. I think this may be true but for a different reason that just it was their time. Work gives lots of people purpose in life, fills, a reason to get up in the morning, motivation targeting a goal to retire, and social interaction plus routine exercise if nothing else just getting out and about. When one retires, sometimes people are not prepared for it, thus feel isolated from society and thus lack meaning/purpose any longer which in itself I believe can shorten their life greatly. Also if they stop doing any exercise, don't leave the home much, etc.. their physical condition can deteriate quickly.

Basically the moral of the story is plan for your retirement and if you want to live a long life, you need to ensure you keep physically, mentally, and emotionally active...else saving all that money is useless.

 

[jazz4cash]

I am approaching 52 non dreadful Sunday evenings. The year has flown by! The knot in my stomach on Sunday eve was a compelling motivation for me to punch out. Since then it seems that I have been to many funeral services or learned of someone with serious health issue.


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[truenorth418]

Now that I'm retired I look forward to Sunday nights. I know the next day will be quiet in my neighborhood, the grocery store will be virtually empty, and I'll have the gym pretty much all to myself.


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[Options]

Had a colleague with the same plan and outcome. Died at 64 after a four month retirement, most of it spent in a hospital.

Carpe diem.

This.

Once you hit 60, it’s time to take ‘carpe diem’ seriously | Financial Post

While everyone knows we are living a lot longer than we did half a century ago, we are not living much healthier.

out of 100 healthy 60-year-old men, 36 will either suffer a critical illness or die before they turn 70. After age 70, the incidence of disease or death climbs exponentially. The numbers are better for women, but ultimately no one is unscathed.

emphasis added

There's another laughable discussion on the BH forum regarding Jane Bryant Quinn's latest "noise" about planning on "celebrating your 101st birthday" (along with the usual stale advice implied to "save more" and "work longer"accordingly). However, according to reality (as in statistics), the chances of living to that age in any sort good mental and physical health are almost nil. In that case, you'll neither know nor care if you're eating cat food.

Seize the day, especially once you turn 60.

 

[REWahoo]

Once you hit 60, it’s time to take ‘carpe diem’ seriously | Financial Post

Talk about a downer...

 

[W2R]

Talk about a downer...

Hey, looks like if I make it to 70, I'm home free from 70 to 80!

 

[Options]

Yes, I suppose it could be construed as a downer--as the old saying goes: reality bites.

OTOH, knowing reality (and facing it head on) helps you prepare for it (pretending you'll "celebrate your 101st birthday" in the same mental, emotional, and physical state of health as in earlier decades does not, IMO).

Tomorrow's success starts with today's decisions (note the recommendations regarding health). Of course, this could be extrapolated to all of life.

 

[imoldernu]

1392 Quiet Sundays

 

[daylatedollarshort]

So many people keep stretching their work life probably out of necessity but for me the earlier the better. This forum allow me to dream of ER. And dream is free.

Dreadful Sunday night. How many more?

enuff

Are there things you have more control over than investment returns that you could do to either speed up retirement, get a new job or make working less stressful? Change careers? Downshift? Change jobs? Start a side business? Get a masters degree? Lower expenses? Certifications?

 

[brett]

I was fortunate. I loved my job until the last two years. Long work days, good colleagues, interesting customers.

But I was happy to retire early. Last week we jumped in the car and drove through the Canadian Rockies to Vancouver for a week. Next week we may go into the Okanogan for a few days. In August we tour Gaspe and the Maritimes. Sept/Oct we plan on being in Greece.

So while work was fine, retirement was even better. Plus, tomorrow I may drop dead or get hit by a bus. Better enjoy the time and our resources while we have the health and desire to do so. I do not want to end up being the richest person in the retirement home. No cheese in that scenario.

 

[GravitySucks]

Always loved Sunday evenings. Fox's cartoon line up followed by Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. Stay up late and stretch out the weekend with a couple beers.
Now that I'm retired I get worked up if I screw up and have to do a grocery store run on a Sunday.
All perspective I guess.

 

[TimSF]

151 non-awful Sundays, and counting.

 

[Options]

Are there things you have more control over than investment returns that you could do to either speed up retirement, get a new job or make working less stressful? Change careers? Downshift? Change jobs? Start a side business? Get a masters degree? Lower expenses? Certifications?

All of these things. To which I might add, work with people you like as much as is possible. When I reflect back on the last few years before I retired, it was the people I worked with and for that made it bearable. Although I'd lost all interest in and respect for my field, and suffocated under the organization's bureaucracy, I really liked the people I worked with and very much liked helping my clients. I got a call last week from a former co-worker I'd not spoken with since retirement, and it was just fantastic to talk to her again.

Even though I'm retired, I'm not against working (although retirement has very much spoiled me!). Its merits can include a sense of accomplishment, productivity, and enjoying the people around you.

 

[akck]

I don't need to remember garbage day, because I watch for my neighbors' cans to appear at the curb...

Unfortunately for us, we need to. Garbage pick up occurs between 7-8 am for us and we can't put it out until after 5 am due to bears. Once DW stops working later this year, Tuesday will be the only night we set the alarm.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

All of these things. To which I might add, work with people you like as much as is possible. When I reflect back on the last few years before I retired, it was the people I worked with and for that made it bearable. Although I'd lost all interest in and respect for my field, and suffocated under the organization's bureaucracy, I really liked the people I worked with and very much liked helping my clients. I got a call last week from a former co-worker I'd not spoken with since retirement, and it was just fantastic to talk to her again.

Even though I'm retired, I'm not against working (although retirement has very much spoiled me!). Its merits can include a sense of accomplishment, productivity, and enjoying the people around you.

I also think part of it is doing a job that you enjoy. I bought a book called Do What You Are and realized why I was happier after going back to more technical work from mid-career from senior management. It was hard to leave the money at first but it just wasn't what I enjoyed and I actually ended up making more per hour because of no commute (work at home) and no unpaid overtime from being in a salaried position.

 

[LARS]

Amateurs. You'll know you're really retired when you can't distinguish, or more importantly don't care, what day is Sunday. Had to go an actually calculate, but for the record over 1,100 Sunday nights and proudly not counting...


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[Lcountz]

I hated Sunday when I w*rked.

Now, I have a Sunday ritual, partially carried over from those days. Summer means all occurs out on the patio.

1) NO toil of any kind allowed.

2) Nice leisurely breakfast, something that may or may not be "healthy".

3) Dress, drive to the paper store, and buy two Sunday papers....The NY Times and the Buffalo News right now, but the Pittsburgh paper sometimes.....

4) Read said papers. It may take me a week to get thru all the sections, but that's OK. I just like the ritual of reading a paper paper. I KNOW it's all on the internet, but there's a world of difference in holding, folding and reading a paper.

5) Finally, go to bed without the stomach turning nervousness that used kept me up all night.

I love Sunday!

 

[Walt34]

Amateurs. You'll know you're really retired when you can't distinguish, or more importantly don't care, what day is Sunday.

Sometimes it is necessary and important to keep track due to circumstances entirely beyond one's control. For example around here you cannot buy any alcoholic beverages before 1:00 PM on Sundays and once I wasted a trip to the grocery store and had to go back.

It was awful, I tell ya, just awful.

 

[Options]

I also think part of it is doing a job that you enjoy. I bought a book called Do What You Are and realized why I was happier after going back to more technical work from mid-career from senior management. It was hard to leave the money at first but it just wasn't what I enjoyed and I actually ended up making more per hour because of no commute (work at home) and no unpaid overtime from being in a salaried position.

Yes, that's definitely a course of action (along with changing careers), particularly if your years away from retirement. In my case, being so close to retirement coupled with a desire to leave the field altogether led me to deciding to just stick it out.

 

[DrRoy]

It's pretty rare, but this weekend I have to head for the airport late Sunday morning to fly to Oklahoma to be at a prospective customer first thing Monday morning. 9 more months and it can never happen again.

 

[pablo]

For my last 10 years or so of work, if I didn't take an Ambien on Sunday night I wouldn't be able to sleep. Constantly racing mind; (seemingly) endless emails or texts from boss about new emergencies for Monday; mentally tackling the most stressful items. And I was probably working from home most of the weekend on top of everything. If I didn't sleep well (and at the end, the Ambien only gave me a few hours anyway) my mental well-being for the entire week was at risk. I had a neurotically constructed Sunday regimen specifically designed to help me get through the coming week. If I was still working it would not have been physically, or mentally, possible to watch Game 7 of the NBA Finals late on a Sunday night. Now I'm looking forward to it - and even better, if I can't watch it for some reason, I'll DVR it and wake up at 4am and watch it then. Most importantly, I will enjoy it!
Fast forward many months later - I haven't taken, or needed, an Ambien since I quit. Sunday is just another, non-stressful, day. If I don't sleep well that's ok and it usually means that I just don't need the sleep. I was out with friends (who were moaning about work) until past 230am last night and had a blast!

 

[nvestysly]

Dreadful Sunday nights... I hadn't thought about that in nearly 5 years (only 250 or so non-dreadful Sundays) but now that you've jogged my memory I do recall the feeling.

Hopefully your dreadful Sunday nights will come to an end soon. As for the One More Year syndrome I think many of us have been there but finally came to our senses.