Things to do after early retirement?

babyblooz

I agree with the earlier comment about de-stressing. I found that I slept like a baby for a couple of months after taking retirement earlier this year. I had been waking in the night or unable to drop off to sleep for such a long time and so I don't think I realised just how stressed and out of sync I had actually become.

I think I kind of 'slept myself better' and now I hardly ever have nights where I can't sleep. If I do I just take myself off and have a drink and read for a bit until I feel the need to go back to bed.

EdSwippet

babyblooz wrote: »

I had been waking in the night or unable to drop off to sleep for such a long time and so I don't think I realised just how stressed and out of sync I had actually become.

Thanks for the comment. I can tell how stress affects my sleep. I have no trouble getting to sleep (if I'm reading, sometimes literally before head hits pillow!), and no particular trouble staying asleep for most of the night. But when stressed I'll wake up an hour or two before the alarm and that will be it. Now, six hours of sleep is far from health-threatening(!) and I can function fine on it.

But... I've also noticed a very strong correlation between tiredness and my mood. If I get a good night's sleep I can stay positive all day. But if it's even only an okay night's sleep though, I lose focus and motivation really quickly. My ability to not get annoyed with just normal frustrations of life erodes very quickly with even moderate lack of sleep. I suspect that's just a sign that my stress coping 'bucket' is close to overflow, so that it only takes a few extra drops are enough to spill over.

So yes, there's something else to look forwards to and to aim for. More and better quality sleep for a huge overall improvement in mood :-)

babyblooz

My poor quality sleep had been going on for years and I am sure it affects your long term health. I would wake up thinking 'did I do ..... for work tomorrow?' etc. even though I was organised and on the ball so I never felt totally refreshed, I'd either slept too heavily through exhaustion or slept too lightly due to broken sleep.

One of my biggest pleasures now is to be woken up by my early riser husband with a lovely morning cuppa, and then taking ten minutes to catch up on the morning news before my feet hit the floor. A small indulgence but priceless! I smile every morning now. Simple pleasures but so welcome after years of rushing around.

DigForVictory

Have you considered joining Scouts? As an assistant leader? It's one night a week (after sundry weekend sessions training) plus other planning meetings, parades, fundraising events, camps etc but above all, it's Fun.
If you can imagine having a bucket of water chucked over you (drawn from the Fountain of Youth, but still wet & startling), Scouting is like that.
Age range for leaders - around 18 up but we have startingly competent 14 year old Young Leaders until your body (&/or brain) refuses to cooperate!
I recommend Beavers if you already have hearing loss in the higher registers & like small people, but Scouts are older & more opinionated but amenable to reason (usually)

Give it a go?

EdSwippet

DigForVictory wrote: »

Have you considered joining Scouts?

I hadn't until now. That's a new one, and thanks for the idea. I'll certainly give it some thought.

SailorSam

I haven't read the whole thread yet so sorry if this has already been suggested, but the U3rd Age have a wide range of groups you could join.

EdSwippet

Thanks. I think U3A did come up somewhere, but I seem to recall that when I looked there wasn't much going on in my town. However... I've just looked again and it seems there may be an active Spanish class :-), so that's one of my boxes nicely ticked. The Spanish I've learned to date is Latin(*) American, but I'm sure I can adapt.

(*) I'll probably skip the actual Latin class. Too many memories of it from earlier in life!

kremmen

EdSwippet wrote: »

Thanks. I think U3A did come up somewhere, but I seem to recall that when I looked there wasn't much going on in my town. However... I've just looked again and it seems there may be an active Spanish class :-), so that's one of my boxes nicely ticked. The Spanish I've learned to date is Latin(*) American, but I'm sure I can adapt.

(*) I'll probably skip the actual Latin class. Too many memories of it from earlier in life!

I would recommend a couple of free language apps . Duolingo and Memrise.

Do as little or as much as you wish.

Paul

EdSwippet

kremmen wrote: »

I would recommend a couple of free language apps . Duolingo and Memrise.

Thanks for the note. Hadn't heard of Memrise so I'll take a look.

I did play around a bit with Duolingo a few months ago, and it looks good overall. I get a bit of a mixed experience with it at the moment because the limited (conversational) vocabulary I have learned isn't the same limited vocabulary that it uses. This means that about half the time it produces something I find no challenge at all, and the other half it produces something I have no clue on! In other words, a pretty normal experience with switching language courses mid-stream. With a bit of perseverance I can probably get past this.

Apps such as these are phenomenal for the price though, aren't they?

dreaming

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I've found it better not to have a huge list of leisure activities that need to be fitted in. Time goes remarkably quickly each day, and if you are not careful you are up running around from one thing to another. Sometimes, you don't need to do anything - it's sometimes enough just to 'be'. You don'thave to feel guilty about doing nothing, you're retired, so it's allowed. .

I totally agree with this. When I took early retirement a couple of years ago (following redundancy) many people asked me what I was going to do with my time and I replied that I wasn't going "to do" anything - I was just going "to be". I did take up some new hobbies, and revisited some I hadn't had time for but I pretty much "planned" my day when I got up each morning and looked out of the window. Nice weather meant gardening/walking/sitting in the sun; bad weather meant reading/crafting/daydreaming; with many permutations in between.
Being divorced I enjoyed time on my own but did make time for family and friends (easier than when my social life was crammed into weekends and fighting for time with housework or shopping etc.). Then my grown up son suffered a mental breakdown which has meant that he has had to move into my home (a 2 bed bungalow), and as he is still unfit for work it has changed my way of life somewhat but I still wouldn't want to go back to work unless in dire financial need. Fortunately I have always been very good with money (definitely not a spender) and in the 2 year run-up to redundancy I did as much as I could to reduce my outgoings (had solar panels fitted; made major upgrades to house etc.) which means I can live reasonably well on less than £10,500 a year. My son does get basic benefits and pays me a small amount, but I am essentially supporting him for food and housing.
However, my quiet life isn't for everyone. My brother and SIL love travelling so have factored that into their retirement, and a friend likes "lunching out" so that is her routine. Basically you have to work out what is important to you and plan as much as you can to attain it whilst keeping in the back of your mind that life can change in an instant at any time.
Kittie, when I look at my outgoings I look at my bank statements to see what I have paid out in the last year. That way any annual fees etc. should be obvious. I then use a spread sheet and save a set amount each month for these (including Xmas/birthday presents and a set amount for "contingencies").
ETA - Oops - last paragraph was in response to another post I think.