Aibu Retiring at 55 - 30 years of idleness?

I retired early.

It really is an individual thing. I had a job with no job satisfaction. I remember when I did and loved going to work. Days off were spent wishing I was back at work (yes really!!). Then it all changed and got progressively worse until all the joy was gone.
By then stuck in rut with commitments.
Jumped at the chance to retire early.
If I had had a job I loved I’d still be working.
i don’t hanker for stuff to do and feel stir crazy like some people do. I’ll graft from morning till night if I want to but I’m also a lazy bastard so it balances out.

I would love to retire! I only work 3 days a week now, but with commute and only one day at home the days are long.
What is the obsession with being busy? I can potter as an Olympic champion.
I don’t give a toss if I’m boring, people don’t need to be my friend!
My job is stressful and boring at the same time, as I talk to the general public. You never know if someone will be angry and aggressive or nice and polite.

How about you do you, and let them do them.

at 51 I cannot wait to be in a position to work less. I am parenting both my elderly parents, and my children (teens), my job is constantly stressful and feel like I am always spinning too many plates.

I would love to be able to take life at a better pace, be less anxious, and have time for sports, learning new skills etc. there is nothing idle about having worked to have a decent pension, and allowing the pace to be more healthy.

everyone is different - I probably would do more voluntary work (have always done some and worked in the sector), but what motivates and keeps once person motivated is not going to be the same for everyone.

This. I have an older sibling who still works because she loves it and good for her.

People are all different. If they can afford to retire and if they just want to potter, watch TV and involve themselves in other people's lives they can do that. I'm not going to be openly critical of their choices. I don't however think it's unreasonable to expect them not to be openly critical of what I choose to do.

I have no problem with people working for as long as they wish and can do the job.....just do not ask me to do it!

people who don't see is as a competition?

are you me?

but I have been "socially disengaged" all my life. I have no wish to study, volunteer or be more socially active. I think that "intersting" is very much a value judgement. You might find me massively boring because of my interests or we might be able to talk for hours.

The nice thing about being retired is that most people are in a position to please themselves. It’s no longer necessary to impress anyone and if they think what you’re doing is boring, lazy etc who cares. If you want to be super busy then fine, if you want to chill out at home that’s fine too. I no longer feel it’s necessary to impress people with my range of activities although to be honest I did my job because it was something that interested me, aimed to help other people and paid a reasonable wage.

Then who's going to run the charities and hobby clubs? 😉

People who can't cope with the loss of structure / status / identity / busyness of their work roles should stay working. Otherwise they swarm onto the steering committees of charity, voluntary / community / hobby organisations and start monstering everyone else as they try and turn them into copies of whatever terribly important job they used to do and competing with each other Game of Thrones style. If you consider yourself an important professional with lots of drive and organisational energy to bring to U3A management you should work til you drop, volunteer in a lighthouse or take up solitary bee-keeping.

If you keep busy its fine. Would find days endless.. Im 53. Dog would get me out. We all different though

You do you. Why are so angry about it?
I retired early (ish) for lots of reasons. I haven’t had this space and time to myself since I was probably 20. I’ve never had so much time to enjoy my family, my friends, my grandchildren, my wider family. And I’m loving it. I travel, I work on my hobbies, I’m slowly getting through a house that been bottom of the list all my working life. I’ve worked hard. Really hard. I’ve chased every job and every promotion to feed my family. I’m personally enjoying the sit down. I’m personally enjoying the lack of an alarm call. I don’t particularly care if it doesn’t sit well with other people, I don’t care if it makes me boring and uninteresting. I’m living for me. As selfish as that might seem, I’m living for me for the first time in years and years and years.

I see well I would reply to people who think you should not be working: are you happy to chip in and help fund my retirement ? That should nip it in the bud

this

me too

To OP’s point about staying interesting and interested, there’s some evidence that retirement contributes to cognitive decline (beyond the amount you would expect with ageing)- doing a mentally demanding job keeps your brain active and flexible. But it’s not the same for everyone- if your job is less cognitively demanding then the decline will be less (and some people even improve). And what you choose to do instead of working makes a big difference- if you are socially active, involved in goal-oriented activities, volunteering, studying- these are all great for the brain. Conversely if you become socially disengaged you may see greater decline, even if you’re doing lots of gardening, crosswords etc.

My mum retired at 61 and was so looking forward to being to finally do all the things she wanted to do in her own time at her own pace after working in the NHS, sadly she only got 18 months in and was diagnosed with a progressive neurological disorder and ended up wheelchair bound unable to do even the simplest task and towards the end she could barely move and was unable to speak. She died before she was 70 spending all of that time fighting the progression of the disease. She never had a retirement.

I will happily take being considered uninteresting vs slogging myself on my old commute and talking corporate BS all day.

Isnt that just what you find interesting though? Everyone is different.

Ive never had a conversation about local wildlife with my friendship group but we talk about travel, experiences we’ve had around the World, holidays etc all the time. If I started talking about local birds, it certainly wouldn’t be interesting to my friendship group. We’re all different though and that’s why we choose friends usually with some shared interests to our own.

In my opinion (as someone who has friends who enjoy travel), I find all their experiences really interesting to hear about. None of us are really into local wildlife.

So he bullies your poor mother into working nearly 2 decades after she wanted to retire ! I would have no respect for my dad if he was so self centred.

Horses for courses, someone's idea of heaven is another's idea of hell.

I only have a part-time job (40’s, 4 days a week) so seeing this from a perspective of someone who enjoys their job and still has 3 days off a week with my family/time to get things done and enjoy life!

Retiring in my 50’s seems far too early for me. I enjoy going to work, DH will be working into his 60’s, we want to have nice holidays, help the kids when they start out and we are fit and healthy (so hoping to live a long life - obviously health can never be guaranteed). I can’t imagine not having a routine in my 50’s, I know I thrive off that and like the feeling of work, earning money and then enjoying my time off too.

I occasionally read an ‘epic retirement group’ that pops up on my fb (obviously clicking on it once made it pop up as im not in that age bracket yet!) 😅and lots of people seem to post that they felt abit lost after retiring. I know I like the feeling of having a purpose to the week and then enjoy the change to the weekend or my day off.

However, if work has consumed your life up until your 50’s and you haven’t had the balance i’ve had (I was also able to be a sahm when the kids were little), then alot of people may feel completely burnt out by their 50’s and want to give up work.

Everyone is different but in this day and age, I think it’s more likely more of our friends will be working well into their 60’s than retiring early.

I plan on retiring at 48.

I want complete control and freedom over my very limited time on earth.

I can't fathom anything less imaginative than assuming work is the only or main way to stave off boredom.

I couldn't give a flying fuck if people think I'm boring after I've retired.