Struggling with retirement

[Thebothy]

name change for this one

So , always planned to take early retirement at 59 which is coming up shortly. However due to ill health had to go at 58

have saved over the years, so no mortgage and have savings. I will be okay financially but am struggling with all this time and money I have available to do as I please
with partner ( retired) , no children
only got a few friends and they work

have joined some night schools

not missing my work as such

just feel I have been dropped into a game which I dont know the rules for

Volunteering. Gives you some of the "job satisfaction" of working, but you can hopefully find something with fewer hours / more flexibility.
Exercise
Joining a group of some kind - is there something you've always been interested in and not had time to do?

I think retirement is a difficult thing, and it should be well planned before it happens ideally.

Suddenly finding yourself with lots of time can be really hard. I have seen people retire and become old very quickly as they just don't have enough to fill their time.

I’m in the same boat as you my health was so poor I actually couldn’t do anything much for about four years till I stabilised. It was depressing. Now I have stabilised I do some voluntary work. It has given me a new lease of life, I’m bloody knackered after I mean absolutely buggered and have to spend the next day doing nothing much but it gives my week a focus. I have also joined U3A. It’s only £20 a year where I am though some charge more depending on where you live and then it’s about £2 to £3 a session. I belong to an exercise class and an art group. I’m the youngest as in my mid fifties. My DH is a few years younger than me and works FT, is there nothing you and your partner and you like doing together.

Thanks for the replies

I have always worked and it's like I am waiting for someone to say is okay to do nothing,read etc. .it's your time now, you have earned it
if that makes sense

My husband retired a couple of years ago from a very stressful job involving a lot of brain power.
He has very active interests which have kept him fairly busy but his memory and critical thinking has generally nose dived .
He has now started a very menial job which he is actually enjoying. It’s only two days a week but he already feels a bit more ‘with it ‘ !

What do you currently do with yourself and what did you think you were going to do?
It is all very well retiring early but you need a purpose otherwise it will soon turn into a scenario where long, empty days stretch ahead of you.

I retired last year (57) while OH (56) still does a bit of PT work 2-days per week. TBH, I have turned into one of those (annoying) people who say they don't know how they found time to work.
Just OH, me and Ddogs. We potter around the garden, walk in the countryside (Ddogs make this a daily necessity), do jobs around the house, keep up with our hobbies and go away for midweek trips in our Moho (sometimes just for the day, at other times a couple of nights).

No expensive long haul holidays or cruises (not our thing), just filling the day however we like and that wonderful feeling of not having to get up for work.

I am in a similar position to you.
I am retiring in August 2024 just after my 59th Birthday. I was going to continue working until 65 but I am in a position where I have no mortgage on my home and a few other financial investments - I probably could have retired at 55 but that I felt was slightly a bit too early!

I plan to travel and continue with property developing to keep the mind active.

I had a colleague take early retirement at 50 a few years ago - their personal circumstances meant that they could do this - their health deteriorated and died 3 years later! Definitely keep active in retirement for sure.

Would you feel better if you constructed a plan of sorts for yourself ?
e.g. in the year ahead you want to do XXX
in the next 6 months you want to do YY ?

Also in your plan, you can state as a default setting that it really is okay to do nothing, read etc, for a period of time every day.