Things to do after early retirement?

Thanks both nargleblast and kittie for your replies.

Clutter is definitely a problem. I'm still in my 'starter' home bought 30 years ago (long story), so in a sense accretion of junk is at least partly constrained by simple lack of space! But even though it's not a large house, past life does have a way of accumulating in piles here and there -- obsolete yet not dead computers, bikes, and furniture, heaps of paperwork possibly still 'required' for tax purposes, knick-knacks from assorted travels, you name it. It's not at critical levels yet, but is well above the level I would like it to be.

One problem with decluttering is that my other half is an inveterate pack-rat. Anything of hers I want throw out will require major negotiations and with perhaps only fifty percent chance of success -- by way of example, I'm still working on getting her to dispose of empty moving boxes from eight years ago! Anything of mine I throw out creates space which she will colonise with her stuff. It's a constant struggle.

I like the notion of 'future proofing' -- not heard the term used in this way before. Family are nowhere near here, so some sort of house move is perhaps on the cards. Not immediately after retiring. I'll give it at least a year to settle, maybe more. Stairs? Hmm. My parents coped with these into their early eighties before moving to a bungalow. My in-laws still cope with them in their mid eighties. So if I move in the next couple of years, say, avoiding stairs might be a bit premature. No way of telling, of course.

There's a lot of fitness and exercise in my plan. Considerably more than while working, in fact. All of this is to ward off the inevitable aches and pains for as long as possible. Since starting regular yoga etc a couple of years ago I feel fitter and healthier now than I did a decade ago. My job is indoors, sedentary, technical, and screen based. I want my retirement to be the antidote to all of that as much as possible. I grew up by the coast and would like to live coastal again. That would open up a few more activities, for example sailing. I vacillate somewhat on tiny villages, but I'm probably a country boy at heart. Part of me loves the quiet isolation and the idea of a friendly community. Another part relishes the liveliness of large town or city's vibrant art galleries, museums, and outdoor spaces. Whichever I end up in I'll probably wish for the other! Ideal would I suppose be a small quite village on the doorstep (within biking distance, say) of a decent sized university town. Better get out the maps and start looking...

Allotments? Good idea. Something my other half has muttered about in the past (she's attracted by the notion of 'free' food -- not particularly the gardening, which is the part of more interest to me!). I'll look into how easy it is to get one around here. I heard a while back there was a waiting list of some sort. Might not be too lengthy though.

As for other hobbies, I've found over the years that work and 'administrivia' have either ground the existing ones out of my life, or I've just moved on. Revisiting past hobbies doesn't appeal. But I'll find or develop new ones. I have reinvented myself a number of times over the years. Doing it again should be feasible. Especially with fewer constraints.

Right, routine. A definite biggie. Thanks nargleblast for the further thoughts.

At the moment I'm anticipating structuring the day/week around gym classes and swimming pool times. Centring on this will be a "threefer" -- staying fit, getting out of the house, and a framework around which to place other things. And some social contact too, so that's a "fourfer" I guess.

As for targets, acknowledged. But I'm also trying to take care to avoid goals that can be reached, because then what?! Most stuff I want to do has, intentionally, no definite end-point. For example 'travel widely' rather than 'visit <name of four countries here>'. I suspect that even 'learn Spanish' might never end. I want to reach the point where I can read Isabel Allende and Cervantes novels in their native language. Perhaps quite a stretch, but I have decades, and the internet is a great resource for learning languages. Or more or less anything.

Current affairs is a tricky one. I took a conscious decision nearly a decade ago to not watch any television news or take a newspaper (not even the freebie at the train station in the mornings!). The daily diet of alarmist nonsense, screaming headlines, and general prattling about 'celebrities' of whom I have never heard and about whom I care not at all, even in so-called 'quality' newspapers, pegged my outrage-ometer at eleven, and this became a curse that spiralled toward depression and anxiety. I am genuinely much more balanced emotionally without constant news exposure. I do scan Google News daily or so, and pick out any articles that interest. That and three-minute radio news bulletins on BBC 6 Music are as much as I want or need. BBC TV News 24 is my idea of hell!

Actually, I don't own a television at all now, and haven't for, again, nearly a decade, so lounging around the house staring glassy-eyed at daytime programming is probably not going to become a default behaviour. That's not to say I don't consume any media -- I may be an expert on where the UK's (legal!) internet video-on-demand services are found! -- just that it's rather something I consume on my own terms and very selectively.

In a way I'd like to 'try out' retirement for a month or two before diving in (both metaphorically and literally!). Bit impractical for me, though. I guess you are doing it through being on sick leave, but I'll assume that wasn't planned! Hope you recover soon.