ER Eddie
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2013
- Messages
- 1,794
This morning I read about hedonic adaptation, which is the phenomena where your mind adapts to change and you return to your normal, baseline levels of happiness. It happens with good things and bad. For example, people who become paraplegic are back to normal levels of happiness in about a year. So are lottery winners.
I figure the same can be true of retirement. One way to counteract that is to remind myself of the positive benefits of retirement -- both the good things about it, and the bad things that I've escaped. So I made a list for myself. It's just off the top of my head, nothing formal, and I'm sure I've left things out.
But I figured I'd share it, in case others might find it interesting. Note, this is my list, so it's tuned to me and my personality. Everyone will have their own list.
Anyway, here's my list of the good things about being retired:
1. When you’re retired, you have more time to devote to modifying the 40% of happiness that depends on intentional choices (thoughts and actions). That’s your leverage point. Happiness does require work of a sort, and being retired gives you the latitude to think more about this, focus on it.
2. All the freedom and free time you have, now that you don’t have to go to work anymore. With all that free time that has been opened up, you are now free to do whatever you like.
3. You have more time to eat well. This contributes to better health, mood, and energy.
4. You have more time to cultivate better thinking habits. Negative drift is somewhat natural for me, so I need to cultivate good attitude and realistically positive thinking, while damping down out the negativity that inevitably sprouts up. This takes time and attention. Retirement affords more of that, and it’s resulted in a better attitude – a healthier, more positive internal climate.
5. You have more time to cultivate friendships. Granted, this hasn’t been easy with the plague and all, so it’s more potential than actualized, but when things return to normal, it’ll be there.
6. More time for stimulating intellectual activity. When you were working, most of your mental energy got eaten up by work tasks. Now all of that energy is available to focus on learning whatever you like. You enjoy a life of ideas, and retirement enables a more stimulating and varied intellectual diet.
7. More time to develop your spirituality. This is very important; I won’t belabor why. Again, this is one of those things that is more potential than actualized, so far, but it is an important value and goal for the future.
8. You don’t have to get up to an alarm clock or according to an external schedule anymore. You can get up when you like, go to sleep when you like, and take naps in the middle of the day if you like (which I do all the time). So, no more days ruined by sleep deprivation – up late because my mind is churning, up too early because of some work stressor, dragging through a day with deficient sleep. That’s a big contributor to health and happiness.
9. You can interact with people you choose to interact with, rather than the people you are obligated to interact with, because of your job.
10. You can enjoy the weather, rather than being stuck inside in an office.
11. More opportunity to explore creativity and projects that are interesting to you, because the majority of your energy isn’t going to work.
12. The wonderful relief that comes from not having to do things – no obligations, no burdensome duties, no “have to’s.” There is a big sense of relief and ease in that.
13. You’re more free to be yourself, to live authentically – to be who you are, to follow your own interests, to say what you think. At work, you are restricted by your career and professional role. You have to stick to the rules. You have to limit your behavior because you have to be concerned about professionalism, reputation, ramifications of someone getting offended or whatever, role boundaries, and even the threat of litigation. Without all those concerns, I feel so much freer to be just who I am.
14. More time for physical activity. That contributes to health and happiness.
15. More time to explore new hobbies. More time to discover new joys in old hobbies.
16. More time for reading. More time for building wisdom and knowledge.
17. More time to devote to friendships, including animal friendships.
18. You can stop and randomly talk to people without worrying about the time you’re spending on it, or what you have to do next. There is a relaxed pace to life. You can just do things for as long as you like, without worrying about it.
19. The ability to not take life so seriously, to just lighten up. The work environment was a fairly serious one, with important consequences at stake, and a lot of push and pull, multiple big agencies involved, sometimes lawyers, egos, and money. Now I don’t have to worry about any of that.
20. Less stress, less worry. That’s a big benefit. Stress of course negatively impacts health, so stress reduction means more health and happiness. It’s a more relaxed lifestyle, by far.
21. I don’t discharge work tension by getting into arguments on the internet, which often came back to bite me in one way or another.
22. The constraints and pressures of work occasionally, several times a year, made me seek relief or mental vacation in alcohol or weed. That desire just isn’t there anymore.
23. More time to commune with the birds and the squirrels.
24. You can tackle projects you put on the back burner earlier, because of lack of time (e.g., home improvements).
25. I can’t over-emphasize the sense of freedom angle. I am high on reactance, so any form of obligation and “have to” produces feelings of constriction and irritability in me. Work was the main source of that. Without work, I have a very expansive feeling of freedom and spaciousness in my life.
26. More time to work with my own thoughts and attitudes. A lot of my mental energy used to go to work. Without work, I have a lot more time and energy to reflect on my own mental processes – attitudes, thoughts, feelings, reactions – and to work with these things internally to improve them. A lot of people don’t do this because they just don’t have time. But this contributes directly to happiness and satisfaction.
27. I can explore what my city has to offer. I didn’t have much inclination to do that, when I was working.
28. More time for adult education classes or discussion groups.
Then you can think about all the negatives you’re no longer subject to…
29. No longer having to deal with lawyers and the threat of deposition or even litigation.
30. No more having to deal with professionals with big egos, narcissism, obsessive compulsive traits, and defensiveness.
31. No longer having to deal with referral sources who have their own personality issues and act out themselves. Same with some bosses and colleagues.
32. No longer having to be the bearer of bad news all the time. No need to push against resistance all the time.
33. No longer being lied to, right to my face, all the time.
34. No longer having to deal with limited resources coupled with high expectations.
35. No longer have to be in a career where political correctness is increasingly taking over. No longer have to worry about offending people’s fee fees. No longer have to worry about being “psychologically correct” in your language, so to speak. No longer have to worry about staying within professional role boundaries. Can just let it all hang out, baby.
36. No more meetings that are a waste of time.
37. No more annoying work requirements that are a waste of time.
38. No more lip service administrative support coupled with no follow through.
39. No more attempts to search for the truth amidst people who don’t want to tell you the truth, for various reasons.
40. No more colleagues trying to make themselves look good or jockey for position/status. No more people on power trips or the petty little power plays or ego strutting.
41. Much lower income tax. No SS tax.
42. No more having to live in that very conventional, restricted world.
43. More time for family, friends, and neighbors.
44. I can waste time without feeling too bad about it.
45. I actually waste less time now – because when I worked, the stress would lead me to seek a relief valve, which often took the form of time-wasting distractions.
46. No worries about losing my job, since I don’t have one. A lot of older people have lost their jobs during the plague. I don’t think that would’ve happened, but at least this way I don’t have to worry about it.
Ok, back to the pluses:
47. More time to get outside and enjoy nature. That’s important.
48. More relaxed drives. Bumper sticker: “I’m retired, go around.”
49. More ability to enjoy small pleasures. A lot of these are no big deal – just 1’s or 2’s on a 10-point scale – but they add up. You have more time to create these moments and attend to them.
50. More walks in the neighborhood. More walks in the park.
51. More time to research nutrition and health. More time for medical checkups.
52. My dog has more fun and lives a better life.
53. The squirrels and birds I support have a better life.
54. The people I come into contact with usually meet a more relaxed and friendly person than they would have before – less tired, less preoccupied, more positive, more open.
55. It probably means more years added to my life.
56. However many years I have left to live, they will be better years than if I’d continued working. My quality of life will be higher. I will be happier and more peaceful.
57. Since I’m able to interact with neighbors more, I get more a sense of community, more a sense of being rooted here. That contributes to satisfaction as well.
I figure the same can be true of retirement. One way to counteract that is to remind myself of the positive benefits of retirement -- both the good things about it, and the bad things that I've escaped. So I made a list for myself. It's just off the top of my head, nothing formal, and I'm sure I've left things out.
But I figured I'd share it, in case others might find it interesting. Note, this is my list, so it's tuned to me and my personality. Everyone will have their own list.
Anyway, here's my list of the good things about being retired:
1. When you’re retired, you have more time to devote to modifying the 40% of happiness that depends on intentional choices (thoughts and actions). That’s your leverage point. Happiness does require work of a sort, and being retired gives you the latitude to think more about this, focus on it.
2. All the freedom and free time you have, now that you don’t have to go to work anymore. With all that free time that has been opened up, you are now free to do whatever you like.
3. You have more time to eat well. This contributes to better health, mood, and energy.
4. You have more time to cultivate better thinking habits. Negative drift is somewhat natural for me, so I need to cultivate good attitude and realistically positive thinking, while damping down out the negativity that inevitably sprouts up. This takes time and attention. Retirement affords more of that, and it’s resulted in a better attitude – a healthier, more positive internal climate.
5. You have more time to cultivate friendships. Granted, this hasn’t been easy with the plague and all, so it’s more potential than actualized, but when things return to normal, it’ll be there.
6. More time for stimulating intellectual activity. When you were working, most of your mental energy got eaten up by work tasks. Now all of that energy is available to focus on learning whatever you like. You enjoy a life of ideas, and retirement enables a more stimulating and varied intellectual diet.
7. More time to develop your spirituality. This is very important; I won’t belabor why. Again, this is one of those things that is more potential than actualized, so far, but it is an important value and goal for the future.
8. You don’t have to get up to an alarm clock or according to an external schedule anymore. You can get up when you like, go to sleep when you like, and take naps in the middle of the day if you like (which I do all the time). So, no more days ruined by sleep deprivation – up late because my mind is churning, up too early because of some work stressor, dragging through a day with deficient sleep. That’s a big contributor to health and happiness.
9. You can interact with people you choose to interact with, rather than the people you are obligated to interact with, because of your job.
10. You can enjoy the weather, rather than being stuck inside in an office.
11. More opportunity to explore creativity and projects that are interesting to you, because the majority of your energy isn’t going to work.
12. The wonderful relief that comes from not having to do things – no obligations, no burdensome duties, no “have to’s.” There is a big sense of relief and ease in that.
13. You’re more free to be yourself, to live authentically – to be who you are, to follow your own interests, to say what you think. At work, you are restricted by your career and professional role. You have to stick to the rules. You have to limit your behavior because you have to be concerned about professionalism, reputation, ramifications of someone getting offended or whatever, role boundaries, and even the threat of litigation. Without all those concerns, I feel so much freer to be just who I am.
14. More time for physical activity. That contributes to health and happiness.
15. More time to explore new hobbies. More time to discover new joys in old hobbies.
16. More time for reading. More time for building wisdom and knowledge.
17. More time to devote to friendships, including animal friendships.
18. You can stop and randomly talk to people without worrying about the time you’re spending on it, or what you have to do next. There is a relaxed pace to life. You can just do things for as long as you like, without worrying about it.
19. The ability to not take life so seriously, to just lighten up. The work environment was a fairly serious one, with important consequences at stake, and a lot of push and pull, multiple big agencies involved, sometimes lawyers, egos, and money. Now I don’t have to worry about any of that.
20. Less stress, less worry. That’s a big benefit. Stress of course negatively impacts health, so stress reduction means more health and happiness. It’s a more relaxed lifestyle, by far.
21. I don’t discharge work tension by getting into arguments on the internet, which often came back to bite me in one way or another.
22. The constraints and pressures of work occasionally, several times a year, made me seek relief or mental vacation in alcohol or weed. That desire just isn’t there anymore.
23. More time to commune with the birds and the squirrels.
24. You can tackle projects you put on the back burner earlier, because of lack of time (e.g., home improvements).
25. I can’t over-emphasize the sense of freedom angle. I am high on reactance, so any form of obligation and “have to” produces feelings of constriction and irritability in me. Work was the main source of that. Without work, I have a very expansive feeling of freedom and spaciousness in my life.
26. More time to work with my own thoughts and attitudes. A lot of my mental energy used to go to work. Without work, I have a lot more time and energy to reflect on my own mental processes – attitudes, thoughts, feelings, reactions – and to work with these things internally to improve them. A lot of people don’t do this because they just don’t have time. But this contributes directly to happiness and satisfaction.
27. I can explore what my city has to offer. I didn’t have much inclination to do that, when I was working.
28. More time for adult education classes or discussion groups.
Then you can think about all the negatives you’re no longer subject to…
29. No longer having to deal with lawyers and the threat of deposition or even litigation.
30. No more having to deal with professionals with big egos, narcissism, obsessive compulsive traits, and defensiveness.
31. No longer having to deal with referral sources who have their own personality issues and act out themselves. Same with some bosses and colleagues.
32. No longer having to be the bearer of bad news all the time. No need to push against resistance all the time.
33. No longer being lied to, right to my face, all the time.
34. No longer having to deal with limited resources coupled with high expectations.
35. No longer have to be in a career where political correctness is increasingly taking over. No longer have to worry about offending people’s fee fees. No longer have to worry about being “psychologically correct” in your language, so to speak. No longer have to worry about staying within professional role boundaries. Can just let it all hang out, baby.
36. No more meetings that are a waste of time.
37. No more annoying work requirements that are a waste of time.
38. No more lip service administrative support coupled with no follow through.
39. No more attempts to search for the truth amidst people who don’t want to tell you the truth, for various reasons.
40. No more colleagues trying to make themselves look good or jockey for position/status. No more people on power trips or the petty little power plays or ego strutting.
41. Much lower income tax. No SS tax.
42. No more having to live in that very conventional, restricted world.
43. More time for family, friends, and neighbors.
44. I can waste time without feeling too bad about it.
45. I actually waste less time now – because when I worked, the stress would lead me to seek a relief valve, which often took the form of time-wasting distractions.
46. No worries about losing my job, since I don’t have one. A lot of older people have lost their jobs during the plague. I don’t think that would’ve happened, but at least this way I don’t have to worry about it.
Ok, back to the pluses:
47. More time to get outside and enjoy nature. That’s important.
48. More relaxed drives. Bumper sticker: “I’m retired, go around.”
49. More ability to enjoy small pleasures. A lot of these are no big deal – just 1’s or 2’s on a 10-point scale – but they add up. You have more time to create these moments and attend to them.
50. More walks in the neighborhood. More walks in the park.
51. More time to research nutrition and health. More time for medical checkups.
52. My dog has more fun and lives a better life.
53. The squirrels and birds I support have a better life.
54. The people I come into contact with usually meet a more relaxed and friendly person than they would have before – less tired, less preoccupied, more positive, more open.
55. It probably means more years added to my life.
56. However many years I have left to live, they will be better years than if I’d continued working. My quality of life will be higher. I will be happier and more peaceful.
57. Since I’m able to interact with neighbors more, I get more a sense of community, more a sense of being rooted here. That contributes to satisfaction as well.
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