Did you find yourself mentally switching off coming up to retirement

I've been retired for 10 years now. It took a while to get used to it but I became busy with other things which kept my brain going. I'm now beginning to slow down a bit but still go to my exercise class and Tai Chi to keep me moving - I find I can sit and read for ages which stiffens me up; not good!!!

I planned my departure from work. I was so happy to be leaving (LA), I was just so fed up with the office politics and continual back biting.

The first Monday I did not have to go to work, I cried tears of happiness. I felt as if a large boulder had rolled off my back...

Puzzled

Knew that retirement was two years away, and started counting off the days.
NO, not wishing my life away, but remembering what was said on the retirement course, "You are going on the longest holiday of your life". So started preparing for spending more time on my hobby.
Now we are able to do things and go places almost on the spur of the moment, and to help ,others when they need it.
We've had over forty years, between us, and still going!
probably, that is what keeps us fairly young in mind and body; being mentally and physically active.
Admittedly, not as quick in many things, but still willing and able.
Sitting back and doing nothing puts you on the waiting list for a wooden overcoat!

I agree with that. A bit of me time after retirement is fine, but it can also be time to give a bit back. There are so many eighty somethings struggling to keep Community and voluntary groups going because no one younger is volunteering to take up the baton.

I switched off as soon as DH worked out that we could afford for me to retire at the same time as him, he was 65, me 62.

Knew that retirement was two years away, and started counting off the days.
NO, not wishing my life away, but remembering what was said on the retirement course, "You are going on the longest holiday of your life". So started preparing for spending more time on my hobby.
Now we are able to do things and go places almost on the spur of the moment, and to help ,others when they need it.
We've had over forty years, between us, and still going!
probably, that is what keeps us fairly young in mind and body; being mentally and physically active.
Admittedly, not as quick in many things, but still willing and able.
Sitting back and doing nothing puts you on the waiting list for a wooden overcoat!

I retire in exactly 10 weeks after 48 years of work. I am not doing less at work but I am less involved, I can feel it - I suppose it's natural to disengage because otherwise I would feel as if a huge chunk of my had just disappeared. As it is, that chunk is slowly, slowly going away from me.

I am mainly interested in making sure my replacement (who I am training) knows what she is doing, is confident in her abilities and is looking forward to my going (because then I'll know she's ready!)

We hadn't planned to retire it was Covid enforced.Our business dIed overnight when lockdown hit .40+ years gone in a flash.Its not been easy having no work to go to in the norning ,no clients calling at ungodly hours and no income.Will take a while to get used to the new order of things,but I do miss the job I'd been doing since 1969

I'm definitely switching off a little I'm no longer as concerned about things that are changing and future plans at work I'm about to start my last term next week and feel excited at the prospect of retirement

I'm planning to retire this year. I reduced my days and started switching off a few years ago. Covid and working from home was the final death knell. I just have zero interest anymore. Time to go.

I retired last year at 67 after 43 years of teaching. I prepped for retirement by doing 4 days in the penultimate year and 3 the last. Unfortunately this coincided with lockdowns and remote teaching, which is far more time-consuming. I certainly switched off from the department politicking. Just as well, as I was routinely ignored by people who hadn't lived as long as I'd taught.

Apart from the teaching, and your brain never stops with pupils, I loved the union work. Never a dull moment. I resigned from the union last week, and its considerable fees will off-set my gym membership.

I heartily recommend the graduated exit, if it can be afforded, and second the poster who said you'll wonder how you ever had the time to work. I miss some colleagues, but we meet anyway for drinks and gossip.

It's a wonderful feeling Beswitched - just enjoy it

Covid retired me from the job I loved doing at 70. I feel a bit better nowadays but it was a shock.

There is a lot of satisfaction in knowing that you did your bit for the community through the work you did and the taxes you paid over those years. Its not selfish to want to do something "for yourself" with the remaining years of your life - regardless of what that something may be. Older people are no longer valued in our society. That doesnt mean we can value ourselves.

I'm finding the last few months very difficult. On one hand I'm frustrated by this job, all the problems in this sector resurface on a regular basis for all of us in this line of work. Our customers can be quite difficult to deal with, and the degree of responsibility is very high. On that basis I can't wait to leave. But on the other hand I like a challenge, have a really nice group of colleagues and I'm not sure I will be very happy with lots of time and less money. DH has a great part time job, 2 days a week doing exactly what he enjoys. I'm thinking of starting a little business to occupy myself as the only part time jobs I could do in m sector or anything else I'm qualified for would be grim.
I'm finding that in this run up to leaving I'm very anxious, worried about leaving the team and battling away flat out to tie up all the loose ends.

Aged 55 then.

I knew I just could never work in my job to 65. Not the sort of job where you can 'switch off' - well I suppose you can, but if you love it, and the youngsters you teach- then you know you just can't. So I resigned- without pay, and switched to a different way of teaching and started my own business. Best thing I did although it did affect my pension.

I retired 2 months after my 60th birthday on NYE 6 years ago after a 42 year career in the financial industry. I had intended to retire the following summer but jumped at the offer of early release from my Director which gave me 6 months full pay. I really didn’t have much time to think about going as I literally left within 3 weeks of receiving the offer on Xmas Eve with a weeks annual leave to follow. I was one of 2 women in a team of 12 all Senior Managers so you can imagine how competitive that was. I do miss the craic and my colleagues but have no regrets about leaving. It took quite some time to acclimatise to not going to work but it was a no brainier really. I waited until the new financial year to apply for my OP and lump sum and then had to wait until my 66th birthday to get my SP and have been fortunate not to have any financial pressures.
I’ve never felt more liberated than being able to delete 10k emails at the click of a mouse on my last day.

effalump I hope this is not insensitive if I don't put it properly, I don't mean that at all but this helped me a lot. Maybe someone will have said it to you already. My friend said to me 'Look at it as a good thing you miss your mum so much, it means you meant a lot to each other and wanted to be in each other's lives. In my case', she said, ' I don't miss mine at all'. She was so right but how sad for her. I don't see that friend much these days but she turned my grief into a positive thing and I'm grateful to her.
If you can do any work it might help if only to provide a distraction and interaction with other people (the most important thing to me). My doctor told me to go straight back to work. I thought it was harsh but he was right.

At age 61 I’d had enough of my job.

I did what I had to do- but nothing more.

Boss noticed and I was made redundant, I went off sick immediately with ‘work related stress’.

It’s been tight financially, but health wise it was the best thing that could have happened.

Effalump - you did good for your Mum, right through lockdown.
It will get better ❤️‍?

effalump my heart goes out to you, it will get easier with time; be kind to yourself

After looking after my mum, who had Alzheimers, from March 2020 to July 2021 when she gained her wings, struggling with the grief of losing her as she was my best friend as well as Mum, I just can't get my head together. I read somewhere that grief is a type of PTSD. Obviously not on the same level as that which soldiers get after being in war conditions, but I do often get flashbacks, up-days, down-days, days when I just can't get her out of my mind and I get weepy. I still have 18 months to go before SPA so I really need to earn a 'wage' but I really struggle to do even the simplest of tasks at the moment. Even things like following a recipes is difficult. I keep tryinng to get back into painting to focus my mind elsewhere but the days go past and I'm still no where near to putting paint on paper.

I was coming up to 66 in a job I had loved with no firm idea of when I would retire. I just had a moment then when I thought why would I continue? I was able to retire financially and couldn’t think of a compelling reason to stay. Time to go. It was very strange to lose some of the energy and commitment knowing I would not be in work to see plans come to fruition - or not as was increasingly happening due to lack of staff and budget. My frustration meant I lost some ability to hide it. ? I decided that I had had a really good innings up until nearly the end so it was time to try something else. If I had stayed I think I would have become even more of a ‘loose cannonball’ which would have tarnished all the many happy years I had spent in the job. My line manager probably felt the same ??? There’s another world of opportunities out there, some big, some small and I intend to make the most of it.

Oops!
Fairly similar for me, Grandmabatty. I did not need to get involved in finding about forthcoming changes in the syllabus, but there were still classes to teach, allocation of rooms and resources for the next year and a lot of sorting. I had not long overseen the move of the department into a different building, which gave us plenty of storage space, good facilities and scope to expand, so there was a lot to manage, to leave things ship-shape for my successor.
Sadly she was of a different way of thinking and in no time she dismantled much that we as a team had built up, then moved on.
I was sad to leave, but glad I was not around to see what happened next. I had plenty of new things to fill my life. I can’t say I switched off before I retired though, and I spent a few more weeks of the summer in school sorting out before I could switch off.

I was made redundant a year before I was 60. I would have continued working in FE, reaching mainly Access students, a job I enjoyed and my students weren't too pleased when they heard of the redundancy.I had made it a condition that the College would foot the bill for me to take a course in TEFL and I was able to work for a further year teaching refugees and asylum seekers which was one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. I downsized during that time and in the past 20 years have done some tutoring of teenagers whose parents were anxious about their prospects for GCSE English.