RSBG

I retired 2 years ago, at 57. I live in the Denver area, and my job moved to Indianapolis. I was given the choice of moving, or taking an early retirement. After I determined that I could cover the monthly bills, this became a "no brainer".

I worked 22 years as a systems accountant and analyst in a high stress environment. It took quite a while to get used living without the constant stress. It seemed like something was missing, and I felt a lot of anxiety.

Now, I look forward to getting up early, and spend most days doing what I want to do (emphasis on "I"). Sometimes I wonder how I had time to go to work every day.

I spend a lot of time pursuing physical fitness. Bike riding, weight lifting and walking; along with grocery shopping and making healthy food, has become like a full time job.

I've also been playing bass guitar in a classic rock and blues band. We've been gigging at bars around Denver and in the foothills.

It took me a while to adjust, but retired life is very good. And, I'm very thankful to be able to enjoy life with good health!

Timtruro

Today no ride, babysat my two month old grandson, Jack. Well actually my wife did the babysitting for the most part. I bought some bike stuff on eBay.

Lije Baley

Retired three and a half years. Returned to cycling six weeks ago. Eight AM ride with our informal Mon-Wed-Fri group that meets by the LBS. We road the flat Yolo County farm roads to Davis, cruised the bike paths at the UCD campus and headed south, eventually winding our way back north to home, logging 35 miles before Eleven AM (It's a slower, friendly group of mostly retirees. We did hit 18-19 mph for five or six miles on the way home.

Once home, I started watching today's TDF time trials, but took time out to clean my cassette for the first time, and cleaned and lubed the chain (joy in retirement). Finished the TDF recording and got in the pool with a pumice stone, cleaning the scale off the tiles for about an hour. That job's not half finished yet. We had left over shrimp fajitas which tasted even better as the shrimp absorb the sauce over time. I opened a bottle of Zinfandel and began sharing that with my wife. I need to see if there's any left. All in all, a very nice Monday, compared to those I had when working.

prxmid

I've been hoping to gradually reduce my workload over the next few years, But have been afraid to start. This thread actually makes retirement sound like fun.

Biggest fear is that you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. What's in like when no one needs you anymore?

Lord Chaos

This is a good question. My decision to take the early retirement option was made easier by the way it seemed the organization no longer valued my particular skills. The first 10 years or so, I was a part of the team. After that... well, new brooms, new ways, and the first generation of people had retired. I was one of two old-line holdouts, and both of us took early retirement.

So, now the question is what value am I to myself? I've had to tiptoe around this slippery slope, but most of my problem has been self-judgment. Work neatly prevented self-judgment through being busy, or at least distracted me. Two and a half years after I retired, I'm still working on this. It's not easy but we're making progress.

Self-judgment leads to my feeling that I've never had any value anywhere, especially on my terms. It blinds me to what might actually be going on. So, I'm learning to stop telling myself I know what reality is, and learning different and more life-oriented views. Bicycling is part of that.

Dan Burkhart 

Well, I'm now in my retirement week of my semi retirement, so here's how I spent my day.
I spent the day with my 7 year old, (or 7 3/4 as he would point out) grandson, and we rebuilt a bike together.
This is how it looked when we started, just the way I found it when someone in the neighborhood left it at the curb for collection.




And here is what we ended up with at the end of the day.



We completely stripped it down to the bare bones and built it up, replacing the pedals, brakes, brake levers, derailleur and shifter, and overhauling every bearing on the bike.





Of course, he got to take the bike home afterwards.