Things That Change After You Retire

It’s a lot more lonely

While there are plenty of benefits to retirement, there are some downsides too, such as increased loneliness. Depending on the age you retire at, you could find that there aren’t many of your friends around to hang out with. The family you have will likely be younger and busier. This is often why retired people start up community groups, to try and create new connections after retirement.

Weekday drinks are no longer taboo

Before you retire, the idea of heading out for a cold beer at midday on a Tuesday may raise eyebrows on some people’s faces. After you retire, a casual midday drink on a Tuesday becomes whimsical, if not respectable. “There’s a man who deserves a drink,” people think. However, as you age, your tolerance to alcohol can become a lot weaker – so don’t drink like you did in your college days!

Healthcare costs rise

When you’re young and fit, hospital visits are rare. As such, they don’t leave too much of a dent in your bank balance. When you retire, however, you may be visiting your doctor a lot more, often to deal with the injuries you’ve picked up in old age. This is why it’s important to keep fit, stay active, and change up your diet the older you get.

Saving isn’t so important anymore

One of the most important factors of planning to retire is saving money. It’s vital that you have enough dough to support yourself once you give up a monthly income. Once retired, these savings may seem pointless, given that you can’t possibly be around long enough to enjoy them all. It’s a good idea to treat yourself to more expensive things you may have never justified buying before.

Moving about is harder

One of the greatest things about being young is the ability to move anywhere you want, anytime you want. You just get on your feet and go. Retirees are often dismayed to realize that their plans to travel are often compromised by their lack of mobility. Keeping fit and flexible before you reach older age is important, as it’s much easier to prevent mobility issues than fix them.

Growing bored of your spouse

If you’re lucky enough, the best aspect of coming home from a long day at work is seeing your spouse. But too much of a good thing can actually be a bad thing. If you no longer work, you’re likely to be spending every waking minute with your spouse. However, there are many ways you can overcome these negative feelings in a relationship. Healthy communication goes a long way.

Vacations are just another week

When you manage to book yourself a dream vacation for two weeks during a tough year at work, it feels like a weight lifted off your shoulders. When you retire, a vacation doesn’t feel crucial, and therefore not quite as special. It just becomes another week, another activity. Instead of traveling to places you’ve already been, try out a country you’ve never even thought about visiting for a bit of variety.

Losing purpose in life

Jobs and work, whether we want to admit it or not, provide a sense of daily purpose in our lives. They force us to have schedules. Humans, once given total freedom, usually only last so long before losing their minds. Retirees find themselves looking for something to fill that void. But don’t stress, this is where new hobbies and volunteering become super important and fulfilling.

Watching television isn’t as fun

We can all relate to the joy of taking a day off school or work and setting up camp on the couch to spend the day watching daytime television. When you retire, this is 99.9% of your days, and it doesn’t have much staying power. There are only so many episodes of Judge Judy a person can watch. Luckily, technology is ever changing, so there will always be fun stuff to do in your future.

Houses feel like prisons

When you work, your house serves as a base of comfort and safety. It is the only place where you can truly unwind and let your hair down. In retirement, spending all of your time in the house can have a detrimental effect on your mood and energy. It suddenly feels like a prison, and you just want out. This is why it’s important to get out, change up your decor, and invite friends and family over.

Recovery takes longer

You can still stay active in retirement. Many do, granted they’ve established some degree of fitness throughout their middle age. But you may notice that it takes longer to recover from a walk or a run. Doing all the things you’ve wanted to do may come with a consequence of lethargy. Maintaining a healthy diet is crucial for your body to help it recover faster.

There’s not as much laughter

One of the benefits of working in an office or on a site is the jokes that you share with your colleagues. In retirement, this largely disappears unless you’ve been placed in a home with other retirees. You may miss the very people you were excited to get away from. However, it’s never too late to make new friends by joining hobby clubs or community centers.

Money loses its value

When you work and live month to month, you learn about the value and weight of money, as well as how important it is to divide it sensibly. Those lucky enough to retire with significant wealth may see the value of money diminish. A safety blanket can be too safe. You may find it’s more fulfilling to donate your money, or simply to just help your family members out.

Early nights are common

Even when you were approaching retirement, you probably weren’t staying up at all hours of the night. In comparison though, your post-retirement bed times are that of a child’s. With more time during the day to do whatever you please, you may find yourself welcoming an earlier rest. Energy levels also just start to diminish the older you get, and getting a good amount of sleep is very important.

Cleaning doesn’t hit the same

Cleaning before retirement may have seemed like the biggest chore in the world but, once you got into it, it became therapeutic and rewarding. After retirement, cleaning is only tedious and arduous. You may even find that cleaning up is too painful of a chore to do. If you have a bit of money to spare each month, you could always hire someone to help you clean up around the house.

Hobbies become a chore

Bet you’re looking forward to focusing on all those hobbies you have once you hang up your boots at work, aren’t you? Golfing, knitting, playing the guitar? Well, you may find that spending a lot more time on these hobbies drains your energy, even at the best of times. But there is so much time now for you to pick and choose something that you are truly passionate about.

Being retired makes you feel guilty

The grass is indeed not always greener on the other side. A lot of people approaching retirement think it’s everything they’ll ever want. Then they retire and feel guilty for sitting around all day doing nothing instead of contributing to society. This can be cushioned by doing volunteer work. Although, reaching retirement should be seen as an achievement, especially if you have worked hard your whole life.

The reality is a lot different

You thought retirement would answer all of your questions. You imagined yourself sitting on a rocking chair out on the porch, taking in the sunset with a frosty drink. But after an hour, you think: “Is this it? Does my life now only revolve around sitting on chairs thinking about how bored I am?” This might be your first thought, but there’s always more to life.

Independence is in short supply

When you’re a working member of society, even when chained to a company and working for ‘the Ma’n, you have bags of independence in terms of ambition and physicality. In retirement, you may require the help of in-home carers or family members just to remember how to switch on the TV. That’s more than okay, but it takes some adjusting to. Educating yourself on the ever changing world is the best way to help you maintain your independence.

Meeting friends is hard

Depending on how old you are when you retire, you may not have many friends left – if any. On top of this, those you do have may not be as available as you hope. Some may still be working, while others may have health issues that prevent them from sitting outside a cafe playing chess all day. But there are so many people like you out there, and the internet now makes it easy to meet them.

Funerals are more common than weddings

Most people you know by the time you retire have been married for a long, long time. They’re also old as hell and looking mortality in the face. A sad con to retirement is that you find yourself attending far more funerals than weddings. It’s dark, but at least be grateful that it’s not yours! And don’t worry, you’ll still experience a ton of weddings.

You may experience depression

There are huge lifestyle changes that occur when you retire, and reduced social interactions is one of them. This can contribute to feelings of loneliness and sadness. Don’t get stoic about this – if you feel depressed, seek help. It is always there, no matter how old you are. Mental health issues have become less taboo over the years, and there’s even free services you can use to help you feel more like yourself again.

Gifts seem less important

Admit it: Gift giving feels so much more special when you’ve bought something on a hard-earned wage. When you retire and start buying gifts with your substantial wealth, the whole thing loses its magic. This is a side effect to retirement that most people don’t consider. However, the joy you see on the faces of your friends and family will make you quickly forget that pessimistic view on gifts.

Spending time with family is great

It isn’t all bad when it comes to retirement. Being able to spend more time with your family is an amazing benefit. The older you become, the more you appreciate every social interaction – especially with your grandchildren, if you’re lucky enough to have some. You also basically become a default babysitter, which is great if you love children, and it just shows that others trust you.

Volunteering is great

It’s common for retirees to apply for some kind of part-time volunteer work or even employment – not for financial reasons, but for the sake of staying on their feet and interacting with people. This is a great way to enjoy the best of both worlds. Work without any of the hassle! You can volunteer for so many different causes, or even set up your own charity group.

Valuing the little things is important

In the mad rush of life before retirement, you barely ever stop to appreciate the little things in life. If you’re lucky enough to retire, something as simple as a perfectly cooked boiled egg can present itself as a beautiful thing. Fresh bedsheets smell better than ever, and being able to move somewhere away from the bustling city will have you appreciating nature much more.

Mornings are better than ever

In old age, people tend to go to bed earlier and therefore wake up earlier. A benefit to this is that you will get to see some amazing sunrises. This is something you have missed or not appreciated while rushing about to get ready for work. Mornings are now a thing of beauty. You’ll start to question why you spent so much time laying in bed before retirement.

Doing things you never got to do

Have you been dreaming of landscaping your garden for years? Or remodeling the kitchen? Good news: You can do all of that now that you’re retired. With all this extra time on your hands, there really are no excuses. So long as you have the tools and the money, the world is your oyster. This can be a great way to spend your time, and also keep being productive.

Cruising is king

If old people love anything in life it’s cruising. They especially love to cruise with other people! These mammoth, all-in-one holiday packages are a great way of getting the weak and tired to tick off several boxes in one fell swoop. Everything is in a walkable distance, and some even offer child-free zones completely. Kick back and relax by the pool as you drift through the Mediterranean.

Daily routines can be spaced out

Now you are retired, you no longer have to scramble about doing as many tasks as you possibly can either before or after work. Now you live in an alarm-free world, you can space your tasks out throughout the day, with breaks in between in case you tire yourself out. It can be fun to plan out your week without the burden of long work days taking it over.

Mentoring is possible

Retirees may be out of the racket, but they have years and decades of experience in their given field that they may as well pass down to the young and inexperienced. Many retirees become mentors to spread their knowledge and set someone up for a similarly successful career. It’s also a great way to earn some passive income, as you can tutor online for paid classes.

Learning more about your town

Chances are, you know nothing about your town or the people who live in it. For decades, you’ve woken up, gotten in your car, and driven to work. You’ve never taken the time to actually wander around and get to know your neighbors and community. This is something you get the time to do in retirement, developing a new sense of community or helping to revamp areas of your town.

Having the time to take up a sport

If you are physically able, a lot of retirees find it conducive to their mental health to take up a sport after hanging up their work boots. This could be something very high-octane such as tennis, or it could be something as low stakes as golf. Let’s be honest here – there’s a strong chance it’s going to be golf. Sports like croquet and darts are also great low impact activities for retirees.

Yoga seems like a good idea

A lot of us love to poke fun at yoga and other forms of meditation, especially work horses who previously took a huge amount of pride in doing so many spreadsheets their blood pressure sky rocketed. Older retirees may find that something as relatively simple as yoga is incredibly rewarding, creating a great union of mindfulness and physical activity. Pilates is also super popular with all ages, as it’s similar to yoga but a bit more physical.

Having the time to work on a personal project

Maybe you’ve been meaning to write a novel, but have never had the proper time and freedom to focus on it and make it something worth reading. In retirement, you have all the peace and quiet and time in the world to craft your potential masterpiece. Why not make use of it? Maybe you’ve had a really interesting life, and it would make a best selling book.

Learning a new language is possible

Most of us aspire to be at least bilingual at some point in our lives, if not multilingual. Retirees have the huge benefit of time and also patience. They can hire private teachers, or join a class to study a new language that they can then use while on vacation! Being able to communicate well in another country can make your experience there that much richer.

Creating scrapbooks

Why not gather up all of the photos you’ve taken and received over the course of your life and put them together into a nice, nostalgic scrapbook? This gives you a task to do that is both fun and meaningful, as well as reason to reminisce over happy memories. It may sound dark, but you can one day leave it behind for your family to remember you by.

Finding love may happen

By the time you retire, you could potentially find yourself widowed or may never have been married. To combat loneliness in later life, you could enlist the help of a dating site or app, head to the local cafe and try charming someone the old school way, or take a ballroom class and find your movie-like romance story. Plenty of people find love and companionship in old age!

Baking is common

Now that you’re no longer under the cosh of working hours and preparing food for a bunch of kids at home, you will have the freedom to cook what you want for as long as you want. Baking becomes a common occurrence in many households post-retirement, to the gratitude of those around you. It’s also a super therapeutic way to pass the time, and you could even create your own recipe book to pass on to family members.

Buying a pet may work wonders

If you’re widowed and not looking for another human relationship, you could forge (a platonic) one with a pet instead. Older people find that having a dog by their side counteracts loneliness – so you never know, a Labrador may give you a new lease of life. Having a pet can really help with your mental health, as well as your physical health, by helping you stay active and get outside.