Episode 12 – How Do You Fill Your Days in Retirement?
Welcome back or welcome everyone. I’m so glad that you took the time to listen today and I’m glad to be back behind the microphone. It’s been quite some time since I last published an episode. The last one was during Valentine’s week and now it’s Memorial Day. That’s quite a gap in time and I’ve had quite a few listeners asking when I would get another one recorded, so here I am.
My first 10 episodes were about how to prepare for and what to expect during retirement and after publishing those, I decided to take some time off and just live in retirement. No schedule, no outlines, no hurrying, just taking the time to enjoy my newfound state of being. I’ve got to say, it’s a very nice state of being and I’m enjoying retirement much better than I thought I would.
I’ve talked about this with others who are new to retirement and with some people who have been retired for a while and it’s pretty much unanimous among them that retirement can be great, but as with anything in life, you’re going to get out of it what you put into it. By that I mean, that you can make your retirement fit your expectations and you can shape your retirement to be that stage of life you envisioned by making each day count.
So how do we fill our days during retirement? How do we make each day count? That’s going to depend on you, but let’s look at how others are doing it.
Traveling – Retirement is a time when many people take the opportunity to go and explore. Travel can be what you want it to be, whether that means taking huge trips abroad or staying closer to home. Maybe travel for you will consist of day trips to local attractions or localities to check out interesting places that just didn’t fit with a 9-5 5 or 6 day a week work schedule. Retirement is a time when we’re free of encumbrances that restrict our travel and, in many cases, you’ve been saving for a lifetime and now it is time to splurge a little. The first few years of retirement are known as the GO-GO years. Hopefully we’ve made it to retirement in reasonably good health and now is the time to get out and explore before we get older, and our health and fitness begins to decline. Whatever your circumstance is, traveling of some type is a great way of filling your retirement time and making each day count.
Home Improvement – Home improvement projects are not relegated to your common maintenance items that will always need attention, but rather projects that you’ve long put off and set on the back burner because you just didn’t have the time to get them done while working. A lot of folks will take the opportunity of retirement to downsize to a smaller residence or relocate to a different community and often the new home will need a little work to make it fully your own or maybe you just want to redecorate. Whatever the case, it’s often a relaxing and fulfilling way to spend time. Whether you’re doing the manual work yourself or supervising the work of others, the planning, designing and completion of improvement or renovation projects is a great way to fill your days.
Pursuing Creative Outlets – Retirement is a great time to try something new. Maybe you’ve thought about trying your hand at writing or you’ve long thought of having the time to begin painting or having a go at photography. Now is the perfect time to explore the creative genius you’ve repressed for years. Maybe you could do as I did and start a podcast or create an award-winning YouTube channel. You might want to take a few pottery classes or woodworking workshops and get into crafting or learn to play a musical instrument. All these things take time, but now more than at any other time in your life, your time belongs to you, so take advantage and enjoy it.
Gardening – How nice is it to be able to walk out into your backyard and pick fresh fruits and vegetables? Retirement is a perfect time to start a garden to provide yourself with fresh nutritious food. I know a lot of folks that get a tremendous amount of enjoyment and fulfillment from tending the garden, harvesting and preserving food that they have personally produced. Maybe you’re not interested in vegetable gardening, but maybe you want to change your existing landscape. Maybe relocate overgrown trees and shrubs and reworking long neglected flower beds. Whatever your idea of gardening is, it is a great way to get outside, enjoy nature and get a little exercise while doing so and it’s a great way to fill your days in retirement.
Cooking – Cooking, trying out new recipes, experimenting with ingredients and cooking creatively are ways to engage the mind and satisfy the senses. Maybe it’s time to learn the art of baking or, like my wife is getting ready to do, learn a new skill such as cake decorating. I for one, probably cook more now that I’m retired, not much more, but since I have more time, I do enjoy it and I really like to eat. One of my short-term goals, is to bake a cake. I’ve never baked a cake, so I am going to give it a go and hopefully it will be edible. Another thing that my wife and I are going to do, is to take a couple of wine classes. I want to learn more about the different wines that are available and how they pair with different foods. Maybe form a dinner club with a few other couples whereby you take turns preparing a meal each month. It’s a great way to explore new food and wine and it’s a great way to maintain your socialization in retirement. These are all great ways to spend your time and fill your days once retired.
Exercise and Fitness – The body is designed for movement and activity and as we age, it’s important that we maintain a level of fitness that allows us to enjoy all the other items I’ve just mentioned. It can be a simple thing like taking a daily walk or it can be more strenuous, such as join a gym and creating a weekly workout schedule. Some retirees see great benefit from participating in group fitness classes such as yoga. The gym near us offers a long list of daily group exercise classes for all ages and fitness levels, and structured classes like these hold you accountable for making sure you include them in your weekly routine and again, exercise fills your days with something that’s meaningful and great for your health and well-being.
Relaxation – Relaxation is one of the greatest benefits of retirement. It’s important that we set aside a certain amount of time, down time, to relax and unwind. Relaxation takes on many forms and it’s different for each of us. It could be meditation or reading or taking an opportunity to sit on the porch or deck and just watch and listen to the birds and the sounds of nature. Maybe you enjoy watching movies or just hanging out watch your favorite television show. Maybe you relax by sitting in your comfortable spot and listen to music, away from distractions and the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Maybe you have a perfect spot in your home where you can shut out all the distractions and read. Whatever it is, be sure to set aside a little time each day for relaxation.
How Do I Spend My Days – I’ve been asked the same question countless times by people who are not yet retired. They ask, what do you do all day? Then, they follow that up by saying that they could never retire because they would be bored to tears. My comment to them, is wait, you’ll figure it out and there’s really no time for boredom. That’s the truth of it. Some days go by so fast that it feels as though life is speeding by at a faster pace than when I was working full time.
My first answer to the question of what do you do all day is: “Nothing I don’t want to”. That’s’ it. I do what I want when I want and nothing more or nothing less. What a great feeling. I do have some order and routine to my life, but I keep everything flexible.
I start most days getting up early. Early for me is between 5:30 and 6:00 am. We have a 7-month-old puppy, so once I get up, I get her out of her sleeping kennel and take her out, feed her and spend some time playing. I get my coffee started while all that’s taking place and then I move to my office and open the blinds to watch the day come awake with my first cup. During that time, I usually read a morning devotion or read the Bible. Whether you’re a religious person or not, it’s important that you sharpen your spiritual saw each day and doing it first thing, just seems to be right for me. After that, I’ll check out the local morning news and weather to get a bearing on what the day is likely to be like.
By the time I’ve finished, my wife is usually up and about, and we’ll spend some time together. We call this our morning meeting. We’ll have coffee, watch the news and we take turns cooking breakfast. We eat together and briefly discuss what each of us wants to do for the day. Once we’ve finished eating ang cleaning the kitchen, I’ll usually head out for my morning walk for about 30 to 45 minutes. I really need to get back in the gym, so I’ll start incorporating that with my walk sometime soon. After that, I’m ready for a shower and the rest of the day.
Each day is a little different, but I usually have a list of things I would like to do and if it happens, great, if not, hopefully I’ll get it done the next day. I try to play golf at least once per week, I would like to do more, but for now it’s at least once a week. That fills the biggest portion of that day, usually a Wednesday. We watch one of our grandchildren one day during most weeks, so that takes up that day, so all of my other hobbies have to be arranged to fit the other days.
I try to practice my acoustic guitar every day and I usually make it happen. I might spend 45 minutes to an hour of playing a couple of times during the day. Some days I will do an outline for this podcast, try to get it to a point that I’m comfortable with and then set it aside while I do a little research or reading on the topic, I’m covering to make sure I don’t give out any bogus advice. One day I’ll spend an hour or so recording and editing, publish it and move on to something else.
I try to have some time each day for reading. I’ve discussed my love of reading in a prior podcast, and I feel a bit unfulfilled if I don’t read for at least an hour. I’m thinking of starting a YouTube channel devoted to reading, book review and recommendation. That will take up another portion of some days during the week. I’m also in the beginning stages of creating an outline of a book that I hope to begin writing in the not-too-distant future.
I enjoy watching YouTube videos on various topics, some for learning and research, others for entertainment and I will spend some time during my relaxation portion of the day watching old movies or various series that I didn’t have the time to get to when I was working full time.
Speaking of work, I still do some contract work for my former employer, so that takes up a few days each month as I’m needed, usually not more than 4 or 5, but I work it into my monthly planning and it’s nice to have that little side gig. If it weren’t that, I think I would still do some type of part time work. It’s nice to have a little extra pocket money and it’s a great way to get out of the house and fill some time.
There must be a certain amount of time each week to keep up with regular maintenance on our home and cars and like all old folks we have various doctor’s visits and appointments we need to attend as well as family and social obligations that come up throughout the week.
Once all those things are completed each day, it’s time for dinner. My wife usually cooks dinner and we come back together after our busy day and eat together. When finished eating, the person who didn’t cook, (ME) will clean the kitchen. Once that’s done, we have some time to sit on our front porch and talk or play with the puppy. Some nights we will watch a tv show or maybe a movie and before you know it, it’s time for bed and we’ll sleep only to get up and start it all over again.
I’ve never felt so less stressed than I do now that I’ve retired, even though we somehow seem to be just as busy as we were when working. One thing is for certain and that is, that we enjoy each day, and we try to stay active. We are enjoying the time to learn new things, to revisit old hobbies and discover new ones. We have some future travel plans and we’re trying to look after our health and well-being. We’re enjoying friends and family and time together and many days we just do nothing, and that’s OK. Better than ok, it’s a wonderful perk of retirement. I hope you enjoy your time in retirement as much as I do. It’s highly Underrated and if you allow yourself, you will always find something enjoyable to fill your days with.
That’s about all I have for today, but if you’ve made it to this point, let me say a big THANK YOU for listening. Take care of yourself and remember to make each day count. I’ll talk with you later.