WestUniversity
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2017
- Messages
- 717
Not in the least…
Nope not me! It was a hard decision but I retired because it was hell for me, not to have the time to do all the things I love to do. Now, I can do all those things when I want to so retirement is heaven for me.
And now that my money makes more money than I do, why would I want to work??
And now that my money makes more money than I do, why would I want to work??
So true , I have been doing so many different things since I retired . I don’t know if I could even do my old job. I would get bored and probably quit.
Conventional wisdom I'm aware of suggests over XX%(double digits) of todays work[-]force[/-] is unnecessary drag.
The author sounds like someone who tends to be nervous, anxious, inclined to dramatize. Needs outside distraction. "No inner resources," as my mother would have put it.
Retirement "hell" would be losing one's health, a financial crisis, or being a caregiver.
I disagree with your very last few words... I think Retirement Hell (very dramatic descriptor) might be NEEDING a regular caregiver which seems far worse than being a healthy one. Just my humble opinion, no malice intended!
Sometimes the "perks" of work, which would not be available if not working, are what people value more. Sometimes the "I do not know what I would do if I was retired" from co-workers was really "I do not know what I would do if I was retired that would still make me look important and powerful to other peope".
Click. Bait.
Although I didn't give the article much credence, for reasons others here have stated, I must admit that, 12 years after stopping work, I have been descending into a retirement slump recently. Unlike the author of the article, it has nothing to do with money. I have no financial worries whatsoever. All my material needs, shelter, food, healthcare, etc are all taken care of. For most people, to be able to finance their life without having to lift a finger is a dream - it certainly was for me while I was working.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I think my problem is partially a lack of interests, combined with an extreme introversion that isn't always good for me. After I stopped work, I was happy to spend a lot of time at home catching up on an old hobby of mine, ham radio. I spent several years building radio gear and blogging about it. I proved to myself that I could build to a higher standard than I had done in the past. It was all quite satisfying. Once I had proven to myself that I could do it, the interest gradually slipped away.
I also busied myself with another old hobby of mine, photography. Back in the early 2000's, I had revived the interest by getting into the then relatively new medium of digital photography. I found that I was capable of taking photos that were much better than I had when younger. In the first 10 years of my retirement, I got myself another camera that was much more tuned to my current interests and discovered, once again, that I was capable of working to a standard that I was happy with. Once I got to that point, my interest in continuing waned significantly.
For almost 15 years now, I have been very keen on the idea of having an RV or campervan. A couple of years ago, I got myself a cool old Airstream campervan. I spent a little time getting it set up the way I wanted it, and took some trips. The plan was to discover the great American West - and perhaps more of the country, if that went well. I did see some great countryside and beautiful vistas, but also felt while I was traveling, that there was no "there" there - or at least, not as much of it as I had hoped. After each trip, I was quite happy to return home.
I have spent a lot of time at home over the last 2 months, recovering from knee surgery. This forced lack of activity has pushed me over the edge into inactivity, to the point where it's hard to motivate myself to get up and go out some days. It doesn't take much to keep me happy but, at the same time, my need for stimulation is so low, that I can easily slip below that threshold and become bored for quite a long time before I'll realize it and admit it to myself. I am bored to the teeth with binge-watching mediocre shows on Netflix and Amazon!
So that's where I'm at, in a nutshell. I'm hoping to pull myself together soon and find new ways to find meaning and enjoyment in my retirement. I'm only 57, so that would be a lot of years to spend feeling unfulfilled, if I don't.
Naw I get what Amethyst is saying. My mom is a paranoid schizophrenic and it has been a living hell for my dad, who takes care of her.
+1Very isolating for him. Plus, the person he is caring for is probably incapable of appreciating his sacrifice.
Good description of your predicament. One observation while reading your post is that you seem to enjoy preparing for and engineering your readiness to take part in your hobbies ( ham radio, photography and RV-ing) but once you're all geared up, you don't enjoy doing them (?). Maybe after getting everthing prepared, you might relax and take more enjoyment from doing the hobby. Or, maybe they are really not good hobbies for you and you might look elsewhere.
Good description of your predicament. One observation while reading your post is that you seem to enjoy preparing for and engineering your readiness to take part in your hobbies ( ham radio, photography and RV-ing) but once you're all geared up, you don't enjoy doing them (?). Maybe after getting everthing prepared, you might relax and take more enjoyment from doing the hobby. Or, maybe they are really not good hobbies for you and you might look elsewhere.
FPV drone photography. They crash a lot so you have endless hours on the workbench