Partial Retirement

I retired from my full time job but continued teaching for the OU (which is part time and from home) for another five years. I felt this gave me the best of both worlds. I agree that it must be quite a shock to the system to suddenly stop working especially if you enjoy your job. I was given two pieces of advice before retirement. Firstly, to cut your expenditure by 10% each year in the run up to retirement. Secondly, I went on a course run by Later Life and the presenter advised that most people find they have more money than they expected when they retire, I didn't believe him at the time but luckily it proved to be so.
Good luck Seasider

I went part time for the last year before I took early retirement and I think it was definitely the the right thing to do, although it affected my pension a bit it was worth it. Time to get things in place for when the work finished completely and I went on my 'very long holiday'! I was getting very tired in a stressful job and that extra time was wonderful. I didn't actually get my lump sum etc until I left but as I only had a year to wait for that. I think going straight from full time employment to nothing must be quite difficult.

This is a good way to face your fears. Going part time keeps you in touch with your working life but having those extra days off will enable you to start to do all those things you never have time for. You'll love it! I went part time for the last 2 years at work and it was a great way to wind down. My colleagues knew I was retiring so didn't include me too much in future projects. But I had plenty of input in the things I was responsible for. Over time I felt less attached to the workplace and by the time I got there I was really positive about retirement.