Mentally Adjusting to Early Retirement: Planning for Early Retirement

 Welcome to the 5th and final installment in my Series on Early Retirement!!

I will be posting links to the previous 4 installments at the end of this post......

 Joe is officially retired!!!

   Above is a Happy Retirement cake that Joe received from one of the many wonderful people to whom he delivered mail to!!

 We want to thank all of his customers who showered him with monetary gifts and gift cards!!

Your generosity and friendship was greatly appreciated!!

 This post will deal with mentally and emotionally being ready for retirement......

 This is a great article on adjusting your "Life Style to Retirement"

"12 Tips to Get Mentally Ready to Retire"

 This article talks about adjusting to a different lifestyle.....

Some of the points it touches on are listed below.......

1. Missing out on the daily social interaction with many different people

I think this bothers Joe the most because I always said he is Mr. Social Butterfly!!

2. Getting Used to new routines

3. Finding purpose and meaning to your days

4. Realize that you don't have to be anywhere:

Joe definitely needs to adjust since he is usually moving at the Speed of Light.

I call him the Energizer Bunny, the Tazmanian Devil, a Whirling Dervish!! You get it ,don't you?

He has to learn to slow down and pace himself as he has a lot more time than he used to.

Another thing he is trying to do is stay up later so that he will not be up at 5 am every morning!!

5. Stay active and exercise:

Joe is used to walking for 6 hours a day, delivering mail.

 So he is now walking in the morning around the shopping center that is located right next to us or through our development which hs a lot of hills and when it gets too cold or the weather is inclement, he plans on walking inside the mall that is located 5 minutes from our house which opens at 8 am for walkers.

I wish I could join him but with my knee, I can not walk for any distance until I have my Knee replacement surgery.

6. Socialize and spend time with Family and Friends

We are actually having a lot more family dinners with the kids than we did before when both of us were working

7. Adopt a dog

This is something that we are reconsidering again but will not seriously think about it until the Spring...

8. Find a hobby or pursue one you already have

9. Volunteer

Joe will probably start to volunteer to work some fund raisers for our church in the future

Click HERE to read this article.....

 Now I do admit that it is an adjustment for both of us......

I was used to having "alone" time when he was at work and now I have to get used to having very little "alone" time.

Hockey season has started and we still have this year left on our 5 year commitment as Season Ticket Holders for the AHL Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins with the arena in which they play located only 5 minutes from our home......

 Joe goes to just about every home game and I don't because we have someone who buys my ticket for most of the games..

Joe is also now watching the Pittsburgh Penguins and Pittsburgh Steelers on TV.....

This gives me my time to watch my TV shows that Joe does not like....

Thank You, Lord!!

Here is another great article:

"How to avoid Living Unhappily during Retirement"

This article touched on an interesting point for couples....

" 7 Tips to Survive Retirement as a Couple"

"Whether you and your partner’s plans for the future are 100 percent on the same page or totally out of sync, these suggestions will help you create a balancing act and happier future.

1. Take time to adjust to being retired. You don’t have to do everything you’ve been planning the first month. And be patient with each other, especially if you want to get up and go and he wants to sleep in without an alarm clock for a while.
2. Express yourself if your partner wants to do something that you don’t. If you are used to accommodating just to keep the peace, it is not too late to change that.
3. Stay connected to the outside world by taking classes, joining clubs, volunteering or being involved in your community.
4. Negotiate sharing more household responsibility. If your partner didn’t help with these duties before, suggest he start with the things you dislike the most and take it from there.
5. Stay active. Exercise, play sports, go to the gym and consider beginning each day with a walk — together. It’s good for your health and can be a nice ritual for discussing your plans for the day.
6. Make sure you each have enough “alone time” and respect each other’s schedules.
7. Plan, but don’t overplan or overschedule. Leave time to do the unexpected or to just hang out."

Click HERE to read this interesting article!!

Another good article is " After Retirement, Anxiety and Depression"

A quote from this article is listed below.....

"After retirement, anxiety and depression, particularly in the transition period (adjusting from work life to retired life), is relatively common.
Oddly enough, it's not something that people talk about.
During this odd period of life, you may experience anxiety or depression... seemingly for no reason at all.
This sometimes happens even if you voluntarily retired, with plans on what to do, and then BAM! What Happened?"

Click HERE to read.........

This article from the Better Health Channel deals with planning emotionally and financially for Retirement

Click HERE to read.....

This next article also deals with adjusting emotionally with Retirement....

It touches on these points.....

"1. Preparing emotionally

Expect Sadness:

Loss of identity and loss of socialization

Have realistic expectations

Don't make too many goals of what you want to do, allow yourself to adjust

Adjust to your new identity- who are you now

Prepare for changes in your spousal relationship- couples can become stressed when neither party has a fixed schedule, allow alone time for you and your spouse

Maintain Social Connections: social media, maintain non work relationships, make plans with friends like going to sporting events or out for coffee in the morning

Reflect on the past: organize photo albums, call up old friends

2. Making Plans

Take "time Off' initially:  avoid making big plans

Stay on a schedule: Go for a walk each day at the same time, eat at the same time and try to maintain a Sleep schedule

Make some goals for your retirement: Travel plans, try a new hobby, volunteer, spend more time with friends and family

Consider Post Retirement work: look for a part time job for a few hours a week

Get involved in your community: Join an organization, volunteer at your church, Book Club

Reconnect with old friends and neighbors

Consider taking classes or course:  Craft classes, painting, writing

3. Take Care of Yourself

Eat right- no hurry now to eat

Keep track of your medications and Doctors

Stay active:  exercise, join a gym, walk, take yoga, join the Y

Keep an eye on your mental health:  talk things out with family and friends or see a professional if depression sets in"

Click HERE to read this great article

 Now here is an interesting article for us wives who have retired husbands from The Huffington Post!!!!

"10 Things Only Wives With Retired Husband Can Understand"

 This one is a bit comical and I think you will enjoy it!!

Click HERE to read!

And here is another article for wives.....

Keeping the Golden Years Golden: Adjusting to your husband's retirement"

Another good read for wives....

Click HERE this article....

Okay, so it has been about 6 weeks since Joe retired.....

The one thing that I noticed that was repeated in several of these articles was to allow time for both the retired person and spouse to adjust.

I have finally gotten used to him being there when I come home from work in the morning( remember I work night shift).

The one good thing is that Joe looks for things to do because he can't sit still!!

LOL!

So when I ask him to do something or go somewhere to buy something, he jumps on it!!

Thank Goodness!!

We have actually been going more places together which was nearly impossible when we were both working full time because we worked different shifts and had crazy schedules.

 With me now working part time and Joe retired, we do get to go out together more and Joe does love to shop!!!

  Joe hamming it up at Country Folk Store.....

So in general, so far so good, as we have not killed each other yet which is what just about everyone predicted we would do!!

Even during this Election Season!!!

This pretty much sums up our divided house when it comes to Politics!!

Thank Goodness this Election is over.....at least I hope it is!!!!

My fear now is the huge hit I will take when the stock market takes a dive because of the election results!!!

We will see how it goes in the Winter when he is stuck in the house.....

As far as the financial part of retirement.....

Joe did get his first pension check and should be getting his first Social Security check next week.

We are still in the process of rolling over his 401K and all I will say about this is that the US government makes nothing easy for their employees.

We are still working with the Financial Planner provided by our Credit Union and he has been a God Send.

I hope you enjoyed this Series on Early Retirement.
 

In the 1st Installment, I shared, What We Learned About Social Security.....

  Click HERE if you missed that post....

In the 2nd installment, I did a bit of research into What Every Woman Should Know About Social Security, which was prompted by some of the comments on the first post.

  Click HERE if you missed that post......

 In my 3rd Installment, I touched on Having a Plan.....

  Click HERE if you missed that post....

In my 4th installment, I talked about Frugal Living.....

 Click HERE if you missed that post.....

I want to THANK everyone for the amazing amount of interest in this Series and for those who are sharing what they learned about Retirement when commenting!!

It has been a learning experience for us and I thought I would share all that we have learned on the way!!

I also learned from all of you!!

I will now be posting mainly over on my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas, for the Holiday Season!!

 Click HERE to see my first post of the season, Christmas at Burlington!!

I will also be posting links here on my regular blog to each of my Christmas posts on my Christmas blog....

So I hope you will come by and visit  again!!

And thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

Hugs,
Debbie

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