<p>Those of you who are retired, please do tell me WHAT you do. LOL. Seriously. Specifics, not “oh, we keep busy”. :)>-
I’m still at the point where I think working part time would be ideal. 3 days a week.</p>
<p>I serve on a town commission, and an education foundation board of directors. I also volunteer at a non-profit agency. I have worked some short term leave positions. I have a core group of friends with whom I do recreational,activities weekly. I go to fitness classes, and yoga, and sing in a chorus.</p>
<p>I have been able to visit my family in other states MUCH more often…plus (I was a teacher) I can fly any old time at much cheaper rates. </p>
<p>I also am able to see friends more frequently, both locally and far away.</p>
<p>I have time to actually ENJOY these things, without having to squeeze them into evenings and weekends only.</p>
<p>“I have time to actually ENJOY these things, without having to squeeze them into evenings and weekends only”</p>
<p>Now THAT really rings a bell. I feel like I’m squeezing in the things that I should be enjoying, into small spaces of time, until it’s time to go back to work again.</p>
<p>I continue to run the nonprofit I started, serve on a national board, spend a lot more time with my folks and sibs, eat out a lot (especially lunches), travel a bit more often on longer trips with H, slowly am de cluttering our home, studying our investments, set up estate plan, worked with CPA and attorney winding down the estate of a loved one, considering buying an investment property and keeping in touch with our kids. So far, we have NOT been bored at all.</p>
<p>Each person is different. Truthfully, I was never a working girl. I envied my friends who were stay at home moms. So when I retired, two years before my youngest graduated from high school, I stayed at home. The first six months I cleaned out every drawer, closet, and cabinet and basically got the house under control. Then I used my time to do things I never had time to do when I was working, like read, watch a TV show, go for walks, help neighbors and relatives, etc.</p>
<p>After two years I started to feel the need for more. I didn’t want to work, but needed time with other adults. My husband plays tournament bridge 2-3 times a week, and I needed a similar activity. I finally settled on volunteering at two local gardens, and joined a couple garden clubs as well as a few book discussion clubs. In the meantime, my niece asked my to babysit her kids one day a week. So right now I feel like I have the perfect mix of outside stimulation, and me time.</p>
<p>I work very part-time. I also train my dogs, compete in dog agility most weekends, run a few times a week, see friends, garden, bicycle, blog about poodles and dog agility, bicycle, and just hang around and read the newspaper.</p>
<p>Sigh. Substitute my own particular interests (writing, kayaking, hiking, activism-- especially environmental–and writing about it), and that sounds like heaven, dmd. Maybe especially the just hang around part. :)</p>
<p>I’ll be having yard sales once the weather warms up. One big change for me is taking time to relax and have a full lunch hour. Forty years of hurry up and eat habits don’t die hard. As my wife is being treated for cancer, I am now the cook in the household. My chef skills are improving, but I have a long way to go. </p>
<p>I work part-time during tax season and work some hours during elections. I need to sell copies of my book somewhere besides our bookstore since they are all paid for. I am trying to contact old friends in social media, but that takes a long time. I now have time to research baseball history and meet old ballplayers or visit historical societies etc. I take care of my grandson and we will be having a ball once schools out soon. </p>
<p>Oh I forgot…I’m also a poll worker at election time! </p>
<p>I signed up to do that, but I work Tuesdays and Thursdays. </p>
<p>thumper1: as a fellow teacher, I cannot wait until I can travel at other times besides July and August!! Give me May! Give me October! Three more years…</p>
<p>Well, just today I was thinking i am spreading myself too thin. My wife and I have been involved in a fulltime project for the past 6 months which I don’t care to discuss right now, which will actually end this Saturday. So in addition to this fulltime responsibility, today was my day to deliver meals on wheels, so I was driving around for almost 2 hours on this beautiful day. (oh, first I did a few trades this morning since it was the last day of the month) After that I managed to get out for a run, which was a wonderful thing to do on this perfect day! Then we attended a basketball practice - the last one of the season. And now I am working on a court report that is due tomorrow and I have just started. It usually takes me a week to prepare these reports so I am in for a long night. The court report is for my volunteer work as a Guardian ad Litem. Court date is next Tuesday. Yesterday I visited 2 children who were spending the weekend with their mother in their new rental home. Last night we took our older son out to dinner near his university which is a 30 minute drive away. I would like to play some golf or work on my car or play a little more guitar, but I haven’t had time for the past 6 months. Is that specific enough? Oh, we keep busy!! :)</p>
<p>I feel so fortunate that i was able to “retire” 6 years ago, even tho I didn’t know I was retiring at the time. I am having so much fun and donating so much time and energy (instead of money) it makes for a very fulfilling life. </p>
<p>MADad…and you can travel from Tuesday to Tuesday…when flights are cheaper!</p>
<p>Any retired doctors out there? Ideas in addition to doing volunteer work in medicine?</p>
<p>Nonprofit health-related orgs and gov can definitely use your expertise on their Boards, to make good, well-considered decisions. How about teaching courses at adult night school, community colleges and elsewhere, teaching health or science in HS? Becoming a health staff person for an elected official – federal or state legislator? </p>
<p>Well, we don’t officially retire until the end of May. We will be moving to a new location (5 hours fr. our current home). We’ve talked a lot about what we’ll do with our time. </p>
<p>The (one acre) yard at our new home is a blank canvas. So that will be an ongoing project for awhile.
We will exercise regularly…running/biking/walking/kayaking.
Our house is on the riverfront so we will spend a lot of time on the water in our boat.
We like to kayak, fish, crab and swim in the river.
We love the beach. We’ll be 1.5 hours away fr. the ocean. Makes for easy day trips.
DH’s Mom lives at a different beach 2.5 hours fr. us so we’ll visit her more often.
My (and our S2’s) university is about 30 minutes away. Hope to get football season tickets and take in some baseball games in the spring. Also think it would be fun to attend plays/performances at the univ.
Our new town has a Traditional Music Association that has live music performances each month that we like.
We like going to outdoor festivals and look forward to exploring new places close by.<br>
We also like to read and waste time on the internet! Will also look into volunteer possibilities once we get settled.</p>
<p>I’m sure there will be plenty of times when we don’t have a lot going on (especially in the winter) but we’ll figure it out as we go. DH says he has no desire to get another job unless it’s an absolute necessity. </p>
<p>Long retired physician here- stayed in old city for H’s practice. Now both retired and moved. I still clean house (monthly), do the shopping (groceries and other), give (unheeded) advice to son online. Still read a lot. Renovated this house, finally working on the garden. Taking some retiree classes through local U- H also auditing some. Keep finding things to do. Haven’t explore the area yet or done much travelling- too busy with everyday mundane living. H also does online courses, reads journals and magazines.</p>
<p>There is life outside of medicine! We chose a city with a university and medical school so we could potentially be able to do academic things- also helps to have highly educated neighborhood instead of just rich businessmen (they live in the more expensive areas).</p>
<p>I have a list of things I could do when I get done with current activities. Keep finding new fiction/nonfiction at the local libraries, though. Had to learn a whole new climate as well.</p>