The transition from work to retirement....

keedge

keedge

New Member
Location
Vacaville, California
I posted this in my "Linked In" account but thought it might be interesting to those who might be nearing retirement and thinking about how your work like mind might transition to your retirement mind.

This is taken in collaboration with AI. I fed in the details of my transition, and this is the list it came up with to show where my "work" mind transitioned into my "retirement" mind.

Work Engineering: Retirement Engineering:
Interrupt-driven Self-paced
External urgency Internal motivation
Someone else’s priorities Your priorities
On-call stress Optional iteration
Failure = escalation Failure = adjustment
 
Last September retirement called, I didn't ask to retire, at 79 I still enjoyed my working life. It was the company's insurers who, frothing at the mouth, freaked out about a 79-year-old employee.
Retirement hasn't been easy but I would hasten to add, don't let my experience put you off. My work was more of a paid hobby rather than a tedious bore.
Others have said that an interest, like my wife's love of dressmaking, fills the day and gives it a stimulus. To that end I have taken to writing, It helps. Good luck with your retirement, I do hope you enjoy it.
 
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I have finally got the retirement and SS payments all setup and flowing. So now I can say I am officially in retirement. The last 2 months, while I wasn't working anymore, didn't feel like I was retired yet since it took a while or the SS payment to finally process that first payment, and I rolled over our work 401k into an IRA for more flexibility in how I have it all allocated and for automated monthly withdrawals. Now that it is all completed, I feel retired.

As for the alarm clock posts that @Gark referred to, I had been waking up before my alarm clock for years. So I didn't have that satisfaction. For me it is that I don't have to get up if I don't want to. But I am finding that I get up earlier now than I did when I worked. Seems odd to me, but that is where I am at for the moment. I still keep basically the same sleep pattern now in retirement that I did while working. Maybe that will change over time.
 
I haven't used an alarm clock since the youngest of my kids was still in high school, didn't want to risk us not being up and ready on time.

During the years after that when I was still working full time, I automatically woke up when I needed to.. alarm clock wasn't necessary.

Since I retired, I still wake up early, and as soon as my eyes open I see kitty standing there staring at me. 😁
 
keedge said:
But I am finding that I get up earlier now than I did when I worked.
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I'm the same post retirement, while working I was always up at 5:15AM, on the job before 6, now I'm up at 4:15AM, at the gym by 5. Always had an alarm clock set when working but was always up before it buzzed, now I don't set one, but still wake earlier.

For me I believe I sleep better in retirement than while working, no stress, even though I still wake often I feel a better quality of sleep means I need less time in bed.

Congrats on everything working out for you, hope you enjoy retirement!
 
Gark said:
Some, like me, adjust very quickly. Never looked back, starting the next day.
Some require time to adjust. Give yourself that transition time, we're programmed to "go, go. go"
but then - "now what"? How about testing some "you time" for a change?
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My sister just retired. She was a doctor and has a lot of doctor friends, specialists. They ask her how she does it and she gives them ideas. They are so used to only work work work, that they have no idea what to do when they can't work. My sis just chills. They go sail or go drive somewhere, take the dog out. They write her tips down how to amuse themselves LOL.
 
I was self-employed for 29 years (Leadership and Management Consultant to small and medium-sized businesses). The Covid shut-downs killed my clients' businesses ... and therefore, mine. (Consultants are a luxury when businesses are in tough times.) Mid-2021 I called over my shoulder, "Honey, I think I'm retired."

"Okay."

That was my ceremony.

For almost two years I kept automatically waking at 5:30. Now it varies, but I'm always awake by 6:30. My pickleball game as really improved(!).
 
C50 said:
I'm the same post retirement, while working I was always up at 5:15AM, on the job before 6, now I'm up at 4:15AM, at the gym by 5. Always had an alarm clock set when working but was always up before it buzzed, now I don't set one, but still wake earlier.

For me I believe I sleep better in retirement than while working, no stress, even though I still wake often I feel a better quality of sleep means I need less time in bed.

Congrats on everything working out for you, hope you enjoy retirement!
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So it's been over 2 months now, and I haven't thought of work once. I don;'t dream about it or anything. I am a LOT less stressed and so far I have adjusted to retirement life fine.

I still am on a similar bedtime schedule as I was when working. So I still end up in bed between 10-11pm, but I am finding I am up about an hour earlier than I would get up when working. So I am up between 5:30-6am most days. What is interesting to me is on at least 3 occasions in the last 2.5 months I have gotten upbetween 4-5am. I wakwe up, and have no desire to try and go back to sleep. So I get up.

And I am so glad I retired when I did. Wouldn't wanted to have tried to figure out how to adjust to all the AI tools coming in and me getting pressue to utilize it. By the time I figured it out I would have been retired for sure.
 
I read all the post above. For those who have adjusted, Took a deep breath and felt the freedom from the alarm clock. Good for you. I wish you all well.
For those who suddenly, 3 or 6 weeks after freedom, felt a sense of loss. I can relate to. My life changed and it wasn't what I expected. Maybe I devoted too much of my life in what I did? I don't know. But now I had freedom and no where to go. Who was I without my occupation?? For some it doesn't matter. You had other things in life that you could now dig in to. To me, my career was me. It was who I was. Now I am retired. Whoopee! We took our vacations when I was employed. We went everywhere we wanted to go.
So now what? To me, retirement is a myth. Something you long for that is not as sweet as you envisioned.
Just my thoughts.
For those who are happy.........I am happy for you. Enjoy, you worked hard for this day.
 
rbtvgo said:
So now what? To me, retirement is a myth. Something you long for that is not as sweet as you envisioned.
Just my thoughts.
For those who are happy.........I am happy for you. Enjoy, you worked hard for this day.
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When my dad was approaching retirement the large corporation he'd been with for 27 years gave him multiple opportunities to take classes in various areas. It was great for him to explore various hobbies or activities.

(But it turned-out to be for nought; he started his own business two months after he was officially retired at 29 years. THAT business of his lasted another 15 years. He was very happy working....)

At the risk of suggesting things you've already heard dozens of times, consider ... competitive bridge / chess / pool / pickleball / golf etc.... Join Meals on Wheels and help deliver food to folks who cannot get to the stores. See what ministries your church can use your help with. Coach baseball, soccer, volleyball or football.
 
rbtvgo said:
I read all the post above. For those who have adjusted, Took a deep breath and felt the freedom from the alarm clock. Good for you. I wish you all well.
For those who suddenly, 3 or 6 weeks after freedom, felt a sense of loss. I can relate to. My life changed and it wasn't what I expected. Maybe I devoted too much of my life in what I did? I don't know. But now I had freedom and no where to go. Who was I without my occupation?? For some it doesn't matter. You had other things in life that you could now dig in to. To me, my career was me. It was who I was. Now I am retired. Whoopee! We took our vacations when I was employed. We went everywhere we wanted to go.
So now what? To me, retirement is a myth. Something you long for that is not as sweet as you envisioned.
Just my thoughts.
For those who are happy.........I am happy for you. Enjoy, you worked hard for this day.
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There are a LOT of retired or nearing retirement folks like you. Some of what you say mirrors some of my husband‘s comments.

One of his favorite phrases (and true) is that we early baby boomers were conditioned to work. While that is true, some of us knew what we wanted out of retirement (me), while some of us ended up being workaholics (husband), and not knowing what to do if the world might no longer see our value.

My husband did not know how to retire, even though there was and still is plenty to do on this small farm. He worked until he was too sick to work. He was 75. He passed two years ago from metastasized prostate cancer.. It Is a good thing I was raised on a small dairy farm and loved the work, because I must now manage this farm by myself.

If continuing to work makes you feel “whole” and with purpose, then find something you have interest in and get busy. Life is too short to whine about the what ifs……
 
Imogene said:
There are a LOT of retired or nearing retirement folks like you. Some of what you say mirrors some of my husband‘s comments.

One of his favorite phrases (and true) is that we early baby boomers were conditioned to work. While that is true, some of us knew what we wanted out of retirement (me), while some of us ended up being workaholics (husband), and not knowing what to do if the world might no longer see our value.

My husband did not know how to retire, even though there was and still is plenty to do on this small farm. He worked until he was too sick to work. He was 75. He passed two years ago from metastasized prostate cancer.. It Is a good thing I was raised on a small dairy farm and loved the work, because I must now manage this farm by myself.

If continuing to work makes you feel “whole” and with purpose, then find something you have interest in and get busy. Life is too short to whine about the what ifs……
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thank you
 
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