Enjoy Retired Life to the Fullest

Everyone should enjoy retired life to the fullest.  You’ve worked and saved for years to get here, don’t just retire without a plan.  You’ll be very surprised at how much time you have to fill if you have no idea about how you’re going to fill it.  I meet too many people who say they’re bored in retirement, and I just shake my head.  How can you possibly be bored?  I know I’m probably looking at a person who has not cultivated any interests or developed a hobby or pastime that they can enjoy.  I worked a lot when I was a prisoner of Corporate America.  Seventy or eighty hours a week was not uncommon and sometimes I worked six days if a project demanded it.  I couldn’t wait to get out of there.  It really did feel like a prison sentence at times.  But I never let work become my life.  I’m sure it seemed that way to those around me and especially my wife because I was on call almost all the time.  When you work with a computer network and something goes wrong you have to respond.  I couldn’t wait for the day that my phone wouldn’t ring.  In fact, I switched to a flip phone when I retired, and I usually leave that at home which is probably not a good idea if something happened.

I truly enjoy retired life to the fullest and we always have our winter escape and at least one other vacation planned.  Unfortunately, the pandemic shut the world down for almost two years, so we feel like we have to make up for lost time.  We were going to take one cruise a year if we could, but we found them to be so worthwhile that we have increased that to two per year and, next year, we’re going to do a third.  One of the things we have seen on these trips is the aging of our fellow passengers.  Some of them have trouble keeping up and their advice always is to do it while you can.  We have been following that advice to the letter, with a big smile on our face!  I can’t believe some of the places we’ve been able to see.  If you’ve looked around this website, you know how much I love history and learning about the past and traveling gives you great insight into the incredible world around us.  Our tours of Greece and the Parthenon, the Vatican and the museums of Paris, the vineyards of southern France and the coastlines of Australia and New Zealand were all trips of a lifetime, and the amazing thing is that we have more on the way.  You can never see too much of the world and with each journey you realize how much more there is to learn.  We always use a reputable guide and that is the one piece of advice we give to friends.  It’s worth every penny.  You get preferential treatment usually with tours ahead of the public and the amount of information a good guide can give you is absolutely incredible.  Of all the places we’ve gone, the Vatican is where we were most impressed.  Our guide was amazing, and we practically had the Sistine Chapel to ourselves.  We will always use a professional guide.

Our own country is a wonderful place to start exploring and seeing places in person can make history come alive in a way no movie, novel or history book can come close to.  There are great museums all over this country and some are rather amazing.  If you are fortunate enough to be near Washington D.C., the Smithsonian is free, and you can literally spend a lifetime visiting it because it is so large.  The National Zoo is one of the best in the country.  You can arrange special tours in advance for the Capitol and the White House through your Congressional representative if you do it far enough in advance.  It is worth seeing these buildings where our government functions.  Throw in a trip to the Library of Congress and, if you love to do research, you will have a place to go back to again and again.

Plan your trips carefully and you can enjoy retired life to the fullest.

You can enjoy retired life to the fullest by making everything you do a special treat and take the time to appreciate the freedom that retirement gives you.  I make our coffee every morning and, despite the increasing cost of this delightful beverage, we buy the best coffee we can.  It is a delight to sit back and look at our view and enjoy this time with no phone calls, meetings or e-mails to answer.  We don’t eat as much as we used to, but we make it a point to have a good dinner either at a local restaurant or something we prepare at home.  Cooking has become much more appreciated with the time retirement gives you.  Searching for the best recipe or trying to duplicate something we’ve had at a restaurant recently makes this time a little more special.  Add a glass of wine to the experience and you will realize how lucky we are to reach this time of our life.  We make an effort to truly appreciate every day that we are given.  Why not do the same?  Make an effort to Enjoy Retired Life!

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