My First 6 Months of ER

[Shabby]

Well I wanted to get a few thoughts down on here because I remember waiting to ER and reading all these.

5 Things I didn't expect:

1. I am way busier now than when I was w*rking. Some things productive, but mostly playing.
2. On any given day I have 1-3 other friends not working. Some are pilots and firefighters with weird schedules. Some are on vacation. Some just want to take the day off. I haven't had the days where I was sitting around watching Netflix series.
3. I haven't gotten much on my house fixing list done. I think it's because I realize I have my whole life to do them. I pictured more progress.
4. Since I am available, I can go on any vacation that my friends are going on. I have the time. Last year instead of 2 trips, it was 5.
5. I have always loved staying up late and sleeping in. I imagined it would get old in retirement. It hasn't at all.

All in all it has been great. No regrets.

 

[street]

Not to shabby!
I kind of finally got over the excitement of freedom day after day. Lol For me it just keeps getting better and I sure haven't got tired of being free like a butterfly. Lol

 

[Dtail]

Nice post.
It will only get better.

 

[ckelly78z]

Thanks, I still need posts like this to get me through the next few year (Turning 55 in June).

 

[ER Eddie]

I'm 6 months into retirement myself. Thanks for the update. It's interesting to hear how other people are experiencing the shift to retirement. Sounds like it's going very well and happily for you.

I noticed one difference between us. I'm not nearly as busy as I was when I was working. And that's a good thing, at least for me.

Initially, in the first couple months, that was how I felt -- busier than ever -- but those early months were crowded with many things to do that I'd put off until retirement. There was also a lot of experimenting with new activities. In addition, I did a lot of goal-setting in the early months, and actively structuring my time, to make sure I "used my retirement well."

Over the subsequent months, though, things have calmed down, or maybe I have. I've cleared out the to-do list. Many of the experimental activities were busts; that is, I didn't feel the desire to continue them. I also dropped most of the goal-setting, and instead I just let myself do whatever I felt like doing -- which often was not a whole lot.

So for me, it was an interesting trajectory over the first 6 months, beginning with lots of activity and enthusiasm/excitement in the early phase, followed by settling into a more leisurely routine later.


Thanks for the thread. As someone in ER myself, I'm always curious how other people are doing. It's a big change on a lot of levels.