I remember my elderly aunt and uncle declining an invitation to play cards on a Sunday evening because they went to church on Sunday (morning).
We have friends who say that they plan one new event most days since being retired and we find that to be a good idea. We will not run ourselves ragged on Wednesday and then sit around the house Thursday even if that is more efficient.
Two of my favorite people are folks I see at the beach in my "routine" beach dog walk.
When we visit these same friends at their beachfront condo, we always walk their dog. I get up every morning and do it before 8. But we also do a beach walk in the afternoon. Although it is a routine, I prefer to consider it a tradition.
Work outs, bike rides, Internet chat rooms, and my investments are the major sources of routine. Non routine is travel, mostly between our homes, and reacquainting with our friends at these places. International travel also spices things up. Seems like a pretty good mix at this point.
Even with travel, we try to plan out the major activities so they all occur on their own day. Because we are retired, we will do a city in a week when working people could cram it all into 3 days. We enjoy taking the time to smell the flowers.
I like having some loose structure and routine to my daily life. If it gets tiresome, we are free to do something else and sometimes we do.
If we didn't have a routine, I'd be feeling a bit anxious right now and thinking "I have to figure out what I'm going to do to get out of the house today, don't want to become a recluse".
Yes I appreciate the recluse aspect. Often DW and I plan separate events that do not overlap. Usually I am returning when she is leaving. This gives us each quiet time at home as well.
Generally try to make every day a new adventure.
Yes we go by the philosophy of trying some thing that scares us. This used to be a daily event but is now more like weekly. Of course, riding a bike on a busy downtown street might qualify now, whereas before it would be ziplining!
We have also found that we can really enjoy our DVR. It is no longer Survivor on Wednesday. We set up the recordings and then go about our lives. When the mood strikes, we watch the recordings. When we run out of recorded stuff, then we get onto Netflix and carry on with the many serials that we never got into live. Life is very rich with on demand content! I can imagine watching Downton Abbey in the rocking chair.
The only problem is when tennis is on. We do not want to record it because it it too much and very timely. But right now, the French Open is taking up time. This is something that we could never do when working. We would catch the results on the late sportscasts.
So the net effect is that we do whatever we feel like whenever the mood strikes us. Life is great.
And when people ask us "What do you do all day?" we say "Whatever we want!". Working people will take about five years of retirement to truly understand our response!
