Officially retired

Congratulations on retirement! Eat when you are hungry and sleep when sleepy. With all things just do what you want too do until you think of something you had rather be doing then go do that. Larry
 
I spent the first month drinking beer. I quit drinking the second month and went to the gym to work off the weight I gained. Then I started shooting more. A lot more. Started getting expensive. Got a part-time job for ammo money. I've had a string of part-time jobs.

Selling Appliances at Sears

Selling grills and garden supplies at Home Depot

Delivering supplies for an Apartment Management Company with 7 properties.

Gun department at a very busy Cabela's (sorry I left that one but we moved).

Got in the RV and did some camp hosting, both volunteer and paid. That was a mixed bag. Public parks are good because you're out in the country mostly but commercial RV parks are horrid. The volunteer positions were best. No pay but you get a free site. A lot more relaxed atmosphere. But eventually living in a trailer gets old.

When they start feeling like work I quit for a few months then go find something else. Some were fun, some were a bit of a grind. A little extra money is nice but mostly it's having something to do.
 
When I got my first security job in 2008(?) I was told that even if all the roads in Colorado Springs were closed we still had to be at work on time. I remember a few times that the Utilities sites I was hired to guard shut down and sent the Utilities Employees home but kept the guards on shift.

One of my favorite things about being retired is hearing the late weather reporter telling people "If you don't have to go out tomorrow don't go out." and realizing that I don't have to go out.

My biggest fear when I retired was that I would become an internet couch potato.

Probably one of the best things that ever happened to me was when the VA put me in the Fat Boy Club.

The exercise physiologist at the VA and the exercise kinesiologist (trainer) at my gym have a very similar education just the one's farther along than the other. So the guy at the VA would give me basic Theory and I'd go to the guy at the gym and he'd show me how to implement it.

I spend three(ish) hours every day at the gym and depending on availability I sign up for an exercise class at the VA every week.

On the off days I go hiking in the mountains or hit one of the local parks.

The main point of all this was I didn't turn into the couch potato that I thought I was going to be.
 
Congrats! Like others say, the best thing i ever did. Course now you can listen to those ya want, instead of listening to those ya have to.
 
^^^^^^Whar he said. I retired in late 2020; early this year I found another overseas job. We'll see after this contract ends. And I'm 68. Started working for money at 13, so maybe I'm an addict.

I retired at 68. Just wasn't fun no more humping all that gear. There were some fun things too, like beating people 30+ years younger on the stress (run, communicate & gun) course, but there comes a time when it's best to hang it up before you start getting polite questions about when you're gonna retire. [Followed by not really polite suggestions that you might start thinking about it.]
 
I retired 10+ years ago. It took a while for me to adapt, took me around a year, but I finally did and now it is great. I tried part time work and that lasted less than a month. I tried to do contract work but could get no one to meet my price.
I now just enjoy the times.
There is so much more in life than work.
One word of advice if you do not have good friends outside the former work place work on making some. I found work friends just faded away quickly.
 
I retired rather suddenly last March, the horror stories continue at the plant even though the culprits in charge were force to resign, albeit with a severance package. I may have stayed had I known.

Your plan to catch your breath is a good one although figure to to start finding things to do around your crib sooner than you think. I love having 2 or 3 projects going on at the same time and make good progress on each all the while looking around about 1130 for that first beer to crack.
Good luck and enjoy.
 
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