I retired last Friday after 32 years in the same department as an academic in Engineering. There were many reasons for going, but a general feeling of unhappiness was the main one. How do I feel now? Brilliant!
The first thing I have noticed is a lack of anxiety. There is always something to worry about in academia - I was always in default of at least one seemingly arbitrary deadline for setting exam papers, writing course reviews, filling in some form or other etc, always had students I was supporting at the back of my mind, always worried that I had got some complicated set of regulations wrong that would need tedious sorting out. I never felt that I was up to date with everything.
Everyone asked me if it felt sad clearing out my office and getting rid of my books, I can honestly say it didn’t, I feel liberated. I really think I had reached a natural end. I could feel myself turning into one of those annoying old academics who says things like “we tried that in the 90’s and…” and they used to drive me mad.
I am very pleased that 100’s of my former students have liked my retirement post on LinkedIn, they have always been the most important thing about the job to me, otherwise there is so much nonsense nowadays to make it miserable. So if anyone else is toying with retirement - do it.