Finding Happiness in Retirement

You work decades at a job, save as much money as you can and then, one day, you reach the goal that seemed so distant when you first made your way in the working world: retirement.  You’ve achieved it.  But did happiness automatically come with it?  No, happiness in retirement should be one of the primary goals of the second half of your life but, for many, that’s not the case.  They plan for the day with the aid of a financial expert and focus on whether their money will last as long as they need it to.  While those are worthy activities, you should also make sure you know how to achieve happiness in retirement.  I started this website with the purpose of helping everyone get as much happiness as possible in their golden years. 

If you take a look around this site, you’ll see suggestions about how to spend your time once your working responsibilities have disappeared.  Time and the freedom to spend it as you see fit is probably the biggest change that you experience after you no longer have to go to a job for eight or more hours a day five days a week.  When the job disappears, it leaves you with a lot of time to fill.  For me, that was a beautiful thing but, for others, it’s a real struggle.  They spent a lot of time planning their finances, but they didn’t think about how they would spend their time.  When I encounter someone who tells me they’re bored, I always turn the question back to them and start to learn what their hobbies or interests are.  I’m not surprised that the vast majority of bored retirees tell me they have no hobbies or that their one favorite pastime, golf, has started to lose some of the appeal it had when they were working.  They still love to play golf, they say, but how many rounds a week can you play and what do you do when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

Finding happiness in retirement depends on knowing what actually makes you happy and many people have not spent a lot of time analyzing that.  The good news is that it’s never too late to make changes in your lifestyle that will bring back the motivation you had when you were a kid, and it was the first day of summer.  That was one of the best feelings in the world and you can have that same sense in retirement.  I believe much of our happiness is rooted in the creative process but, sadly, many have let the creativity in their life die from neglect.  I think happiness in retirement is directly related to those hidden ambitions that you have forgotten about or think it’s too late to do anything about.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Finding happiness in retirement is often a creative process.

I think there was a time in everyone’s life where they thought about doing something creative.  Maybe they had a desire to draw or paint, build models or make jewelry.  A lot of people think they “outgrew” that desire or don’t see the reason why they should pursue that desire anymore.  There are a lot of reasons to rethink those assumptions.  We know many people who get lost for hours in front of an easel or cutting out patterns for their latest quilting project.  Some people, like my wife, discovered a love for woodworking and their mind is constantly active with new projects and ideas.

Model building was one of the things that I enjoyed in my youth, especially anything having to do with the military.  When I saw the exhibits at Gettysburg, I realized that I was not alone in that hobby because I was in the presence of some people who have made it their life’s long work, and you can see the enthusiasm on their faces when they describe their works of art.  It’s possible I may return to model building at some point, but I am finding happiness in retirement through writing.  I enjoy maintaining this website and writing little articles such as this one has given me more enjoyment than I imagined.  I started this website because I got tired of people saying they found retirement boring.  The low startup cost made this a very easy project to try and, when I did some research, I found that many other retirees felt the same way.  I decided to try it out and am very happy I did. I started out slowly and I still only work at it when I’m not spending time with my wife on one of our many trips, which is still our number one hobby and interest.  It always involves dining out which comes in at number two for our favorite pastimes.  But one hobby complements the other and you’ll find travel and food references throughout this website.  The bottom line is we love to travel, and I love to write about it.

But I happen to think that everyone has that kind of creative urge within them that they can explore during this wonderful time that they’ve been given.  Retirement is the gift of time without the stress of making ends meet (for most people).  Why not do something you always wanted to do?  That’s the key to finding happiness in retirement.  What makes YOU happy?  If you don’t know, I don’t think you’ve made a concerted effort to find out.  Retirement is too wonderful to waste.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life! 

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