Although I enjoyed my career, except for a few periods, I’m enormously happier since retiring. But, even without the stress of work, life still throws stuff at you, and you have to deal with it. I’m in my sixth year of retirement, and the last two years have been both the most stressful and rewarding in my life; and, none of that was work related. So, I think it’s important to have a solid plan to retire “to” something (even if vaguely defined) instead of away from your job. That plan provides an important framework to build on or, hold on to, depending on the circumstances. Things that were helpful for me included:
1. Be FI (I know, it goes without saying)
2. Decide what you’re retiring “to”. For me, it was lots more travel (especially long duration travel), golf, more self care (physical activity, meditation, etc), volunteer work, more time with friends & family.
3. Make a notional schedule of what your typical retirement week will look like. This might sound silly but, it was quite useful to me to add a bit of structure.
4. Complete the “Life Tree” exercise, and consider going to a retirement retreat (Like OLLI) before retiring.
5. Be open to ‘taking a flier’ on something once in awhile.
