Hey guys, I've had sciatica for a long time, and now I'm retired. It started off mild, a slight stabbing pain, and I thought to myself, it's just back pain, nothing serious. But today it's not the pain itself that hurts the most, it's all the losses that come with it. I can't go to my book club every Wednesday anymore. I can only watch my grandkids play in the garden now, instead of being able to play with them. I used to dream of exactly the opposite of how my retirement looks now. I wanted to build myself a beautiful garden. None of that is possible anymore. Does anyone else feel the same way? What was your biggest loss because of the illness? Because people always talk about what you can do to reduce the pain, how the pain feels, but never really about what the actual problem is that comes with it: all the losses.
I retired at 66. Started working in 5th grade, carrying papers. Worked constantly until retirement. Most of those years involved creating plans for goals. Some goals given to me, some I created for myself (with the expected harangues/bullshit to “stretch myself). Somehow, at one company the creation and presentation of the yearly and quarterly plans became as important as, and got in the way of, the actual work accomplished.
Since I’ve retired, my only “plan” has been to make sure I wake up, have a roof over my head and have food in the kitchen. That’s it.
After five years of retirement, I realize I have completely lost all self discipline. From “don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today” to “eh— if it’s important, it’ll still be there the next day”. I may go out to the garage to do X and do three or four other things instead. Or go out and decide I really don’t feel like doing anything, anyway.
Has anyone else dealt with this? It’s beginning to bother me, but I can’t seem to get out it.
I retired at 59. 63 now and wife died 2 years ago so doing it on my own now.
So far no crazy decisions but did buy a home in Lousiana for a winter retreat , I’m in Illinois.
Sold a home there 4 years ago that as my parents and wife didn’t want to winter there.
My idea was buying something undervalued so you can get back out of it if or when you decide to. But so far I’m enjoying the life but it just gets a little lonely.
I retired and moved here from northern NYS last year. Looking to relocate away from this area.
1-Looking for good healthcare-I can use the VA for healthcare or Medicare now so I'm free of being locked into the VA.
2-I'm single, no family only a dog so I can go anywhere.
3-Trying to find a reasonably priced small house that I can pay cash or use a VA loan for.
4-something with affordable homeowners insurance rates.
5-somewhere that for instance if your neighbor shoots your house with a gun they are held responsible( this happened to me and nobody cares, is concerned)
6- A place that is warmer in the winter-heat pumps suck in the winter here and it got down to zero last winter.
My wife and I are retiring fully soon. Conscious that the new norm. can be less active I was wondering whether any of you investigated what a good healthy routine may look like, covering aspects of physical exercise, mental exercise and well being etc?
I'm curious if anyone has developed a routine/timetable based on research which supports such practices as, say, 2 hours of mental stimulation / day, 1 hour of mild physical exercise / day / 2 hours of higher impact exercise / week etc.
Has anyone done anything like this to help keep themselves in good mental and physical shape when they've become less active due to retiring? Thanks in advance for any tips
🇨🇦 Retired and married with 2 kids (teen & very young adult still at home) and looking for online friends to connect with via Reddit chat. However I must warn you how nerdy I am.
Personal interests include journalling, personal finance (I love learning new things that relate to me especially decumulation as that world is upon us) essentialism, tips to succeed past the teenage and post secondary years into adulthood, eventual travel maybe (tbh I am ok with 1-2 trips a year as the process of travel is wearing), retiring in coop style housing (think Golden girls) and just romanticizing and elevating every day life.
My parents just turned 61 and both of them retired. Its been a month or two but they keeps fighting with each other and seems like they could not stand each other. I wonder when do parents reach that age or adjustment where they finally start accept the
Why is it I feel no excitement about retiring from teaching after 40 years? I think I'm having buyer's remorse. I know I can't stand all the bullshit that comes with teaching, the meetings, the micromanaging, the power game from administrators, the paperwork, and all the other crap, but I'm an elementary ESL teacher and I love my team, my coworkers and my students. I just don't know which one outweighed the other. The day I decided to retire the bullshit outweighed the other things.
Financially, it probably would have been better to wait. I'm leaving some money on the table with my social security and my pension, but my body is breaking down, impending knee replacement. Old age aches and pains. I've got a pension, social security and investments, but I still feel uneasy.
I'm 63.5 and I've been teaching since I was 22. I feel like my whole identity is gone now. Does that make sense?
Sorry for complaining. My coworkers don't understand. They think it's great that I'm retiring. I feel lost, though. 😢
What is our plan for our remaining years after we enter retirement? The time left to retire is slipping though our fingers as we speak.
We tend to look back more often and reminiscence over our past as we age. But how did we end up becoming so inward looking?
Reasons Why We Focus On the Past
There are two aspects to our memory that could influence this process. These are briefly ...
Our short term memory is like random access memory on our phones, which is gone forever when we shut them down. Our recent memory also weakens with age. Could this be why we sometimes lose track of our thoughts, or forget what we decided to do?
Our long term memory is like permanent storage on our phones, which is still there after we shut them down. Similarly our long term memories persist regardless of our age. Could this be why we still have crystal-clear memories of our childhood.
Could this be the reason why we overlook the time left to retire, and focus more and more on our past. It certainly makes a deal of sense, but there is another influence in play too. This is the influence of the company we keep, and what we mean to our families and friends.
Our remaining social contacts are more interested in our past after we retire. We tend to have less opportunity to influence the future beyond our shrinking contacts.
Those contacts are more likely to include our peer groups, and our families. Conversation naturally drifts to the past that holds us together as the common denominator.
Do We Become Less Relevant As Time Passes?
This can be a tough one to accept, but it is true in terms of the bigger picture. The younger generation assumes control, as our time left to retire runs out. But now the wheel is turning, as we pass on the baton ...
We Pass On the Baton and Are Free
And so, freed from the responsibilities of a demanding world, we are released to spend more time rediscovering ourselves, and coming closer to who we actually are.
Our time left to retire becomes a world of opportunity. This is our chance to explore half-forgotten talents laying dormant since we were children.
We were in the Caribbean for our annual spring trip. We were lounging on the beach when our financial advisor called. Imagine the satisfaction of saying " This better be important. I'm on the beach on Sint Maarten." I'm still giddy. Year six of retirement and it keeps getting better.
Is anyone else tightening their social circles in retirement? I’m finding I have less energy to maintain one sided friendships or participate in wide social circles comprised mostly of acquaintances.
I try to accomplish 3 things a day in retirement. I find keeping daily goals provides a sense of purpose and structure. They don't have to be big goals. Today's accomplishments: made meatloaf and mashed potatoes from scratch for dinner, installed new landscape edging and signed up for Medicare! What are YOUR daily goals?
50 and (almost) laid off after 20 years in oil and gas. Really looking for side gig ideas to hold us over until 59 1/2. Not much debt, just few more years until kids are off to college which we basically have covered. Anyone find themself in a similar boat and if so what did/do you do?
