Oh, I withdraw. Who would have said that it would be the best moment of your life? Even with all the challenges of these past six and a half years, I still love the joy that comes with retirement.
So for October, I’m sharing some of my previous posts on Retirement, as well as Adventures, as I see them as a by-product of being retired.
adventures
Tim and I are not as adventurous as other retirees for a couple of reasons. First, Tim has only been retired for two years. Second, there was a pandemic. We’re rethinking what kinds of things we want to do.
I don’t post much about time spent with the grandkids; I tend to save that for my personal Facebook page. But Tim has them hooked on fishing, so we try to schedule as much time as we can for that. Surprisingly, the most popular spot has become the neighborhood pond not far from our house. The only problem is that they are so involved in other activities that it is difficult to find time to spend with them, especially at our house. But we usually fit in at least one summer visit.
Other adventures to consider:
- Iowa Tenderloin Trail: In Iowa, the Pig farmers sponsor contest to see how many of the tenderloins they have identified you can visit in two years. If you get stamps in your “passport” for ten times during that period, they send you a T-shirt. Tim and I got ours in 2017. Check out this post for a photo of us in our t-shirts. We live in central Iowa so most were relatively close. But some were too far away for us to try. Especially since at the time, we were limited to Sundays and Mondays, because Tim was still working. I would like to try trail 2.0 now!!
- Keeping a Travel Journal: Over the years, I’ve found that keeping a journal while traveling can be very helpful. In fact, if you’ve read any of my summer vacation posts (and I know I still have Part 3 to finish), you won’t be surprised that most of my stuff comes from that journal. However, I will admit that I have not been using the journal that I mentioned in this post. While this isn’t an adventure, it’s nice to have to keep track of your adventures. Maybe for the next tenderloin trail?
- Taking a cooking class: I have taken several classes from a local Italian transplant. They’re so much fun because she’s a hoot. However, the more classes you take, the more repetitive some things become. But they are still worth it. Good food, funny moments. And while you’re leaving with a “recipe”, you have to take a lot of notes, because their recipes are so incomplete!
- Why a Retiree Still Needs a Vacation: This was written while Tim was still working, so we only had a week in Florida. If he’s been following us, he knows we’ve started snowbirding in Florida. But you can apply this to any vacation. Even as a retiree, it’s nice to get away and experience new things.
Retirement: how to start
I think it’s typical for a retiree, especially when their spouse is also retired, to have a hard time remembering what day it is! Do any of you experience this? Read What day is it anyway? Also, did he have a favorite day of the week when he worked? What About Retirement: My Favorite Day of the Week?
Since I was the first to retire, I had a lot of time to myself (with the cats of course). So, I wasn’t sure what it would be like when Tim finally retired. I started speculating about it in 2018 in this post: When my husband retires.
I also wrote Preparing for My Husband’s Retirement about two weeks before he retired. But it was strange because she had been out of work with an injury for the better part of the past year. for which he was not prepared.
As part of this preparation, I created a questionnaire that we could both complete that would help us align our expectations. In fact, it was a good exercise and I share that quiz in my post. Check it out if you’re currently thinking about this.
When you first retire, it’s important to establish a routine. But you also have to be easy on yourself and let it unfold on its own. I think too many people think they have to have a set plan when they retire or are afraid of getting bored. I can honestly say that I have never been bored! You may wonder, is there a retirement routine? It’s funny, as I reread this, I find that my routine has become more defined over the years!
One of my first posts was What I don’t miss about working. If you are, or have been, in the corporate world, I’m sure you’ll relate to this. I still don’t miss anything!!
When you first retire, everyone talks about keeping in touch. I wasn’t naive enough to think that all these people would actually do that. And I’m not very good at it. Social media has helped a lot with this, especially during the pandemic. I was pleasantly surprised when I was at a retiree meeting and someone I used to work with said, “I wish you were still here because I needed to talk to someone in your area the other day.”
Retirement: I love it
I mentioned earlier that I never get bored. Why retirement is right for me is best explained in this post. I think it’s also important not to feel guilty if you ask yourself: Do you ever need a day off? Yes you do, so take it!
I have to admit that my only struggle in retirement has been how to manage my hobbies. Objectives: deeper or broader? argue that. I think since writing this, I’ve managed to avoid new hobbies, so I guess you could say I’ve gone deeper.
One thing I’ve noticed is how I think about vacations, which led me to write Do Vacations Lose Value in Retirement?
About a year ago, after putting it off for a year, I was wondering, am I ready to be a Snowbird? I appreciated all the feedback I received from my readers. And while I won’t link them here, I wrote several posts in early 2022 about our experience as snowbirds. We enjoyed it so much that we will be back, this time for six weeks. We learned a lot from that first year, so I’ll update you as we plan for 2023!
Useful Posts
While my goal is not to try to tell people what or how to do things, I do like to be informative when I can. So if I have questions, I wonder if others might also benefit from the answers. Here are a couple of such posts.
And last but not least, a retirement milestone. It is a summary of my first five years of retirement.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look back and can find something of interest. There are only two more months left in this fifth year series!
