new life after retirement

tbh Jane, I have peers who are already retired, and they seem to be (unintentionally!) busier than ever, and really enjoying retirement, though I fear my financial situation is going to severely limit what I can hope to do, sadly.

Life doesn't have to be 'productive' or a matter of 'waiting to die'! Seriously, a house move is a big adventure. Lovely to have the luxury of time to do it in instead of having to fit it in while still working.
One tip I'd offer is to try to keep weekends special. Some structure to Monday-Friday helps even if it's only one thing a day.
My retirement turned out unexpectedly and continues to surprise me!

Well done, grandtanteJE65 - that sounds amazing, and what a great thing to do instead of 'waiting to die' which I always felt my mother was doing from about 70 onwards..

We made my husband's dream come true;sold our flat, bought a motor boat, put the few pieces of furniture, we wanted to keep and our books into storage. Packed ourselves, my husband's tools, two cats (with EU passport and rabies' vaccinations) into our boat and spent two years sailing the waterways of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, then back to Denmark, via Luxemburg and Germany.

I was less the happy about it to start off with, but I am glad now that we made the trip. We met so many who had dreamed of doing the same, but put it off too long and had to give up the idea, due to ill health or bereavement.
We met lots of lovely people, saw some places we had always wanted to, and lots of nice towns and villages we had never known existed. Got an idea of how people live in some of the other countries in Europe. Wow, such small houses in Belgium and the Netherlands, and if you think houses are dear in UK, then think again!

So retirement is the time for turning dreams into reality, or at least seriously considering whether you want just to dream or to do the things you, or one of you, have been dreaming about.

We made my husband's dream come true;sold our flat, bought a motor boat, put the few pieces of furniture, we wanted to keep and our books into storage. Packed ourselves, my husband's tools, two cats (with EU passport and rabies' vaccinations) into our boat and spent two years sailing the waterways of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, then back to Denmark, via Luxemburg and Germany.

I was less the happy about it to start off with, but I am glad now that we made the trip. We met so many who had dreamed of doing the same, but put it off too long and had to give up the idea, due to ill health or bereavement.
We met lots of lovely people, saw some places we had always wanted to, and lots of nice towns and villages we had never known existed. Got an idea of how people live in some of the other countries in Europe. Wow, such small houses in Belgium and the Netherlands, and if you think houses are dear in UK, then think again!

So retirement is the time for turning dreams into reality, or at least seriously considering whether you want just to dream or to do the things you, or one of you, have been dreaming about.

I think that if you are moving, I wouldn't take on anything else. The work of moving, doing any work needed on the property, settling in etc. will bring you into contact with lots of people, and an opportunity for volunteer /part-time work, or an interesting course will probably just pop up.

I hope I'm not teaching my grandmother to suck eggs (!) but I would do some serious work on where you expect to move to, looking at all the activities and facilities, visiting and looking around and so on. We did that, and thought it very worthwhile.

Thanks Jane - and all of you

I think I feel (too much?) that time is of the essence, in that productive life may be limited to 10-15 yrs - time to do something useful but not long enough for the luxury of restful pondering (on the other hand, 6 months of no work/alarm etc is very appealing...)

Don't look for another career! The others are right. Stop and enjoy the loss of time pressures. Relax and just be for a while. Activities will come along if you give yourself a chance to recover from a hard working life. They may well be something you've never even thought about.
Life is what happens while we sit about making plans. Go with the flow. You may surprise yourself.

Retirement is a scary prospect but amazing fun.

Thanks everyone for your helpful input I'm not actually worrying about retirement, rather I see it an exciting opportunity to have 3rd career! Family-wise my daughter will be 27 by then and hopefully (finally!) moved out of home; I will have to move away for financial reasons unfortunately but have known that for some whi;e. So - a whole new start...!

Retirement is a scary prospect but try not to pre think how you will feel.

I would broadly agree. Of course it depends on your family set-up, and other factors such as your friends, and hether you have the money for say, travelling.

But I am aware, that (a bit like becoming a mum for the first time) sometimes things don't workout the way you expect them to.
So I would say, don't commit yourself too much.

No harm in exploring options - I have friends who have done serious VSO stints; also something like learning a language can be useful.

If you have spare time at the moment to do a small amount of volunteering, or a course, you would begin to get an idea. Me, the last couple of years before I retired, I could do nothing but work and recover, I found it so exhausting!

If finance is likely to be an issue, look at the kind of volunteering that gets you freebies - I have several friends who get free membership of the National Trust or Wildlife Trusts in return for their work, and another who sees theatre productions.

I did actually have a major project that kept me busy for a couple of years; after that, I found that my voluntary work found me!

Before you commit yourself to anything just have fun. Enjoy not getting up at 6am (unless you want to). Enjoy lazy breakfasts whilst the world rushes to work. Enjoy days out and days in. Enjoy being free.

Don't be afraid of freedom. It's wonderful.