Retirement Should Be
Enjoyed To The Fullest

Retirement should be enjoyed to the fullest. While that may sound obvious, the key to making it happen is careful planning.  Anyone can fall into a rut and get bored even when they’re having fun and doing something that they enjoy. Planning a variety of activities and varying the schedule is the best way to keep life interesting and make every day an adventure.  It’s nice to throw in a surprise activity every once in a while, to avoid the drudgery of the “predictable”.  After all, didn’t we have enough of that at work?

I’m a great believer in planning to maximize your time and to even bring down some costs, but it’s nice to take a surprise trip or do something unexpected as well.  Retirement should be enjoyed as much as we can because it truly is a gift that many people never get to see.  Stay on the lookout for bargain fares or travel opportunities that crop up at the last minute.  If you can disrupt your schedule and take advantage of a low cruise fare or get a weekend rate at a great hotel, why not do it?  Scout around for the restaurants that have happy hours or early bird specials and take advantage of them once in a while.  Restaurants can use the extra business especially during the week.  You’ll find yourself enjoying a nice quiet dinner rather than the loud and noisy Friday or Saturday nights.  We have gravitated toward cooking on weekends and going out during the week.  The slower and quieter pace is more enjoyable to us.

Retirement should be enjoyed and one way to do that is to add some variety to your life.

Every day provides an opportunity to do something different, and retirement offers a unique opportunity to do things when the rest of the world is at work.  Grocery shopping during the day in the middle of the week is much more enjoyable than fighting the crowds on Saturday.  An afternoon matinee at the movies is a completely different experience than a crowded theater on a Saturday afternoon.  And, quite often, there are midweek prices that can save you a few dollars.  Retirement should be enjoyed and, if you can save money at the same time, why not do it.

Make a list of all the things you wanted to do in your life.  Retirement is the time to do it!  I have a list of topics that I want to know more about and the amount of information that is available on the internet is mind boggling to me.  I never get tired of watching documentaries about the Second World War or reading about the people who led the world through this great struggle.  I have a list of great authors that I want to read more of and many things that I want to learn.  The great part about all of this is that I’ll never get through my list.  I can learn a foreign language or take music lessons so I can play the piano.  I can take a course on how to write a novel or how to make Chicken Cordon Bleu.  Retirement should be enjoyed to the fullest and I can’t think of a better way to do that than to learn as much as I can about this great world we were born into.  There is so much to do and so many things that are waiting to be discovered by you if you only take the time to explore.

Putting some variety into your life will make the days whiz by and will help you avoid becoming a creature of habit.  There’s nothing wrong with a weekly card game or a morning at the pool (my wife would be lost without them), but there is something to be said about adding some spontaneity to your activities.  Retirement should be enjoyed to the fullest and sometimes a sudden change in plans can lead to an activity that is more memorable than you thought possible.  A group of us went out for some ice cream not long ago and we had such an enjoyable time that we now schedule it if it’s been more than a month between sundaes and milk shakes.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy a very chocolatey milk shake!

The best part of retirement can sometimes be taking advantage of the time most of the world is working.  I still feel a little bit guilty sometimes because I don’t have to go to work.  I have a great deal of sympathy when we can escape during the winter down to Florida and see that the northeast is having a horrendous snowstorm.  But that’s what we worked so hard for, isn’t it?  Retirement is meant to be enjoyed and that can mean just being grateful for not having to go to work every day or having to shovel snow during the winter.  So, go out and see a movie or take a trip to somewhere you’ve never been before.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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