Is anyone bored in retirement?

No, we are not bored in the least. After I retired we traveled extensively. Also, I flew 110 missions for Angel Flight West, flew counter drug missions with Civil Air Patrol, worked to restore a 1941 Railroad switch engine, and volunteeed at a hospice repairing medical equipment..
 

We're just a few years in - but no - not bored at all. Are there boring days - sometimes; but I consider it a feature to be able to wake up some days and say, "I just don't feel like doing anything today". Those are good days to catch up on TV, etc. I guess we're lucky that our over-55 community has plenty of things to do and to be involved in.
 
Well I wasn’t bored ‘till my back went out and now trying to do anything is an ordeal that takes forever.

Huzz however, since the day he was born, is bored unless he’s behind the wheel of a vehicle with the accelerator all the way down. (He should’ve been a long-haul trucker for a living but then I suppose his back would’ve been in even worse shape than it is.)
 
Yes!!! I never planned to retire. I quit my job to help my mom, with the intention of finding a different job(66 yrs old). After mom's surgery was over and she was up on her feet again, but I did not return to work, so I call myself "retired". I found senior centers that played cards. Senior centers are fine for weekdays, but my nights seem boring. I keep looking for stuff to do, but I haven't found it yet. I think it's the companionship I am missing. A goal. A purpose. I had all that when I was working.
 
Vicky said:
Yes!!! I never planned to retire. I quit my job to help my mom, with the intention of finding a different job(66 yrs old). After mom's surgery was over and she was up on her feet again, but I did not return to work, so I call myself "retired". I found senior centers that played cards. Senior centers are fine for weekdays, but my nights seem boring. I keep looking for stuff to do, but I haven't found it yet. I think it's the companionship I am missing. A goal. A purpose. I had all that when I was working.
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Depending on where you live, a radio frequency scanner might be something to get into. A scanner can be set to listen to various frequencies, like the local fire, EMS, police and public services agencies like the highway services, and of course the local airport air traffic control tower. A used scanner can be found for around $100, and there are numerous online frequency lists that you can down load for free. AS long as you are a passive listener and don't go out and rush to accident scenes or fires, you are legal.

Obviously a really small town won't have a lot of radio traffic, but there are online websites that let you listen to big cities, like NYC, Boston, Chicago, or Dallas emergency channels. I live in Toronto, and I have pre set channels on my lap top computer that let me listen to a dozen US big city police, fire and EMS services as background in my headphones. JIMB.
 
I've been retired for 18 years. The few times I've been bored were my own doing - in that I just didn't feel like doing this or that. But the vast majority of the time I'm busy with "honey do's", "have to do's", or "want to do's".

One thing I've found during my retirement really shocked me. I've found that some folks just don't have any hobbies or serious interests. I found this really hard to grasp, for I've had/have umpteen hobbies and interests all my life.
 
Mobilman44 said:
One thing I've found during my retirement really shocked me. I've found that some folks just don't have any hobbies or serious interests. I found this really hard to grasp, for I've had/have umpteen hobbies and interests all my life.
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People definitely should have hobbies or serious interests, but some of us were born without the hobby gene, sigh. That could then sometimes leave the serious interests, but if you didn’t get that hobby gene, all you’ll probably feel up to doing with the serious interests is read about’em.
 
I’m bored sometimes which is why I went back to part time consulting a few years ago. Living alone has been a big adjustment. I see my kids once a week and I get together with friends but some weeks aren’t busy enough. I do some volunteer work and joined a couple of groups but that’s mostly small talk at events which isn’t very satisfying.
 
A lot of our identity comes from what we do for a living. If you're a store clerk, to others, you are THE clerk. It takes a while to be just you. Plus working for someone else gives you structure- you have a job to do. Being newly retired, it takes time to stop working for someone else, and to start working for you. During that time, you're bored to death.
 
I don't have time to be bored!
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One is never too old to not enjoy our natural world. Unfortunately large numbers of people, especially many urban people, rarely enjoy or appreciate our natural world, nor have ever learned how to. So many can look and at be briefly awed when visiting natural wonders. But beyond a couple minutes just looking and taking selfies, quickly become bored, usually totally ignorant of any elements of what they are looking at beyond simply "a tree', "a bird", "a flower", " a mountain" . From last Monday morning July 1, 2024. David out in wilderness near Lake Tahoe during a 3 day backpacking trip. Downsized for web version of 4 column focus stack and stitch blended image is 12,300 by 6100 pixels.

Given global to local region transportation, our current digital age photography with its endless forms, is one hobby any of we modern folk can enjoy easily. It forces a person to develop an aesthetic sense more deeply than they would otherwise, that is a valuable inner quality one may appreciate in more ways than expected. And saves often valuable memories that will otherwise forever be lost. Also understanding natural sciences even a small amount allows one to enter a vast expanse of wonder that could keep any older person occupied for lifetimes, much less our few remaining years.

100% pixels crop from above image showing true detail with someone's orange tent.

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