Your Identity in retirement.

I haven’t worried about my identity in retirement. These days I seem to switch between intrepid traveler and homebody - but I do a whole lot of different stuff at home.
 
Last edited:
Woke up at 4...had to pee. Went back to sleep about 4:30-4;45. slept till 8. About 8:45 wife says cleaners coming at 9;00....oh sh*t. Hurry around stripping the bed (the cleaners remake it) & picking up stuff. Out the door to walk the dogs as cleaners arrive. Give the cleaners a check for our house & 1 for MIL. She is 93 & has never had a cleaner. It took the cleaners about 2.5 hours (way longer than I anticipated) so I wrote a check for the "extra" time. they were finishing up as we got back from our walk. 2nd cup of coffee & a bagel for breakfast.For kicks I look at Virgin Atlantic for a London RT. Hmmm....decent price if we go next week. It's not going to happen.....but.....maybe?

Got ready for a meeting with a closet company. they are redoing 2 closets & putting in a built in. Finished up details w them & gave a verbal OK. Took Mrs to drop off a package at FedEx on the way home. Looked through emails for the tile floor we are going to extend in a closet. Didn't find anything so I dug out a piece buried in the garage racks. Took it downtown to the tile place to see if they had a sample. They did so they ordered 4 boxes & I came home. 2nd dog walk....much shorter than am walk

Mrs is getting ready for Book club (wine club) that rotates houses. We connect for a couple minutes on the tile & answer the designer on a question. I microwave some leftovers & grab a glass of wine. Laundry is done so I'll fold it in a minute

That's pretty typical. Very random. Really try not to have appointments before 11:00 am. Going to the Beach house for a couple days tomorrow

The only identity I have is Retired
 
Did you tell him how to use the emergency release so he can open his garage door when the power is out? ;)
He's a doctor. He probably just assumed that handle hanging from the short length of rope was just a vestigial organ with no function! Or perhaps he assumed that years ago and removed it so that it could never become diseased.
 
I find this discussion very helpful. I "retired" at the end of December although it has been far from the binary change I anticipated. I am still working a few hours per week to help with the transition.

That said, two weeks ago was a lot of lounging around with afternoon naps. I think that was because we had just come home from Europe and time zones were in effect. Last week was a lot of work hours preparing for an even this week.

Today was my first day where I sort of felt retired. After sleeping in until about 8and just lounging a bit I decided laziness was not going to define my retirement so I went out and tackled some long-neglected yardwork. It was only an hour or so but hopefully I am defining a retired identity for myself that involves getting things done.

I feel like I need to spend a few weeks establishing a routine so I don't default into doing nothing every day!
 
We have a respectful, but derogatory name we use in this family... Mary, My Grandmother.... This goes along with recycling drier sheets.... She would wash out zip-lock bags and reuse aluminum foil. She came to my mind today while doing dishes as I was washing out the Vac-u-seal bag that the pot roast was in. Sure enough when DW got home and seen the bag turned inside out drying... " All right Mary"
 
Last edited:
I do all the laundry in my household. Besides some folks want a 1950's house wife.:ermm::ermm:
DW seems to like it... I have always done housework even before I retired. Cooking cleaning laundry. DW always was 9-5 type job, I was 7-7, 24/7 365.
 
I sometimes think my identity is dealing with DW's and my various health conditions. Today, DW had several tests on her heart. Tomorrow I get an ultrasound on my neck (hoping) that there is no recurrence of cancer. Between us, we have a dozen appointments between now and end of April. I never thought this would be my fate (identity.) BUT, I'm glad we have good health care and good MC and supplement.
 
A good bit of my identity in RE comes from being a landscape photographer. In 2024, we were travelling 12 weeks over 5 trips. One trip was AZ, UT, WY, MT, then Ireland, UP of Michigan, Iceland, and Nevada. When we get home, it takes me 2-3 times the trip length to edit the best of the shots. The rest of the year, we will be thinking about/planning trips, and I post the photos online.
 
I find retirement to be like the witness protection program. You can create any identity you want, but it will be different than who you were before.
 
I have several different identities during retirement. The best part of retirement for me is having the opportunity to have large blocks of leisure time for those identities. Part of my day is spent hiking/walking alone with dog.. Another part of my day is spent playing advanced pickleball with several different groups of players. In between, I waste time reading, various online activities (including paid studies/surveys), and watching tv for both education and recreation. Winter means lots of time in front of the wood stove, along with building and tending to the fire. Summer is more time outdoors.
 
My identity at our condo is "that guy who lives in Colorado." My identity is more varied at our cabin, mostly "one of the fire dept. guys."
I'm more active and outside at the cabin, even in the winter.
 
I was somewhat concerned before I retired that my identity was tied to my profession - but that was not to be the case.

Currently, I choose to identify as a spiritual, emotional, physical and social being, who has had gone through different phases as I proceed through this journey that is life.
 
My identity was never tied to my job so I never understood those who did. I always had hobbies and friends outside of work and rarely socialized with coworkers. I met up with a former boss who retired a year or two after me and he was a bit lost because he had no friends or hobbies outside of work. His entire social life was going into the office every day. Sad.

My identity for the next few months is rambling around Florida in my RV pulling a car with kayaks on the roof and bikes on the hitch rack. Every day is kayaking, fishing, biking, walking my dog or just sitting at camp drinking a beer while reading a book.
 
My identify was never tied to my job as I worked before and after raising our kiddos. I was an engineer and retired just before I turned 56. During my almost 5 years of retirement I have learned to mountain bike with my hubby, play pickle ball, and play a 5 string banjo (I like picking to Americana music). Life couldn’t be better, oh except for that over the handle bars experience I endured on Sunday! No bones broken, just a bruised body and injured pride…
 
Career-wise, DW and I were very high profile, high energy and highly compensated.

Now, we relish the quiet and anonymity. The phones stopped ringing (eventually).
That's us but almost no one in our community knows what our past careers were. In fact, we know maybe a couple of percentage of folks living here as to what they used to do or still do - like NFL Hall of Famer, mega pop stars, number #1/#2 employee of a mega corp, famous attorneys, one who got a billion dollar settlement for the victims etc. The rest of us were somebody in the corporations that we worked for or ran some businesses.
 
Yep, when people ask me what I did I respond "just pushed around a lot of paper..."
 
A good bit of my identity in RE comes from being a landscape photographer. In 2024, we were travelling 12 weeks over 5 trips. One trip was AZ, UT, WY, MT, then Ireland, UP of Michigan, Iceland, and Nevada. When we get home, it takes me 2-3 times the trip length to edit the best of the shots. The rest of the year, we will be thinking about/planning trips, and I post the photos online.
I'd love to see your pics...would you mind sharing a link?
 
I've become more of a homebody in retirement. I am sure the neighbors don't know who I am, except for the four nearest our house.
Up between 4-7, in bed by 10-12, never the same. Daily tasks usually involve some housework, once a week store shopping or to the library, once weekly spend half day watching/playing with youngest DGS, reading or other hobbies, bills/financial stuff.
Really, all the things I did before retirement, except while working, they were all crammed into Saturday/Sunday!
And now, we take more trips.

Best job in retirement is that of Grandma!:love:
 
Back
Top Bottom