How many of you are planning your life after ER?

[victw]

I decided I didn't want to put off some of my plans and quit work.  This was not a permanent ER.  I spent last summer windsurfing and then spent 6 months travelling - mostly in Asia.  I have enough saved that I can spend a year looking for a new job. 

However I'd like to spend another season windsurfing and not start working until September at the earliest. 
However windsurfing season won't start for another month and I'm embarrassed to say that I'm bored.
I've been cooking alot - spending time in the garden - and going to yoga class everyday.  But I still have an amazing amount of free time.  Needless to say this predicament has me feeling emotionally unprepared for ER.

So I'm wondering how many of you are actively cultivating your life after ER - and what/how are you doing that?

Vic

P.S I might actually make the decision to go back to work part-time rather than full-time because of this problem.  It will delay my ER- when I can quit working altogether.  But if I make enough to cover my expenses then it's really just a question of letting what is already saved grow for about 12 years before I could quit full-time.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I laid out a very elaborate set of plans with lots of objectives I wanted to achieve and stuff I wanted to do.

Its pretty enjoyable once in a while to open that document up and see what the heck I put in it 5 years ago. I accidentally even did some of the stuff.

 

[retire@40]

I'm not sure you can just ER without having some kind of a plan in place, even if you don't end up following that plan.

Actually, the best time to plan for ER is while you are in the most stressful time of your worklife.  It's almost like going food shopping when you are starving.  Everything looks good.

I would make all kinds of lists of places I would rather be and things I would rather be doing.  I still have those lists and when I look at them now, I couldn't dream up some of the stuff I listed back then.  Things like visiting the Galapagos Islands, going tuna fishing in Sicily, smoking a pipe in Scotland while looking for the Loch Ness Monster, and drinking absinthe in Paris.

The mind wanders more when you are at work.

 

[donheff]

However I'd like to spend another season windsurfing and not start working until September at the earliest.
However windsurfing season won't start for another month and I'm embarrassed to say that I'm bored....
So I'm wondering how many of you are actively cultivating your life after ER - and what/how are you doing that?

Lets see, must be the Gorge or the Outerbanks. Sure can't be waiting for Hawaii. Most of my plans got tossed overboard by the reality. My dreaming included windsurfing, snowboarding, and roller hockey. But now that I am retired (age 57) I took up golf -- who would a figured. I still windsurf a little, but now I only like warm water, warm air. A little snow boarding. No roler hockey -- cause lower back pain.

So plan away, but expect to toss at least some of the plans.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

I seem to be a relatively rare type that has no trouble passing time and entertaining myself, provided I'm not stuck somewhere with limited activities. Several months off work in 2000 re-proved this to me. Last month I had a few days off with no plan and travelled aimlessly and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

My vision of ER is "winging it" daily. I could see myself taking up hobbies I don't have time for now like woodworking perhaps. It's not as if I would never plan ahead, but for the most part I would make it up as I go along. Lots of travel will likely be involved.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Shoot...have a baby and pick up six pets.

What the heck is this "free time" concept you all keep referring to...?

 

[Nords]

However windsurfing season won't start for another month and I'm embarrassed to say that I'm bored.
So I'm wondering how many of you are actively cultivating your life after ER - and what/how are you doing that?

Get a library copy of Ernie Zelinski's "How to Retire Happy, Wild, & Free" and work through the "Get A Life Tree" brainstorming chart.

Why do you have to wait for windsurfing season? There's getting your gear ready for windsurfing season, shopping for new windsurfing gear, working out those windsurfing muscles so that you can spend more hours per day on the water during windsurfing season, and trying out reflex/balance exercises that will keep you from spending windsurfing season IN the water. Look at Cut-Throat-- he spends so much time tying flies that he can't wait for trout season to free him from the drudgery...

 

[nun]

I'm planning to move to the UK and build a house using sustainable techology and architecture.
I also want to ride my bike across the US and around the coast of the UK.