Just wanted to get some perspective on this though I may already have made sense of my position. I had to give up my job due to ill health (a chronic condition and my employers had been fantastic - leaving was my choice) The first 12 weeks were actually sick leave which covered my notice period but, since then, I've had good and bad days health wise and am well into this new way of life. I started out "reassuring" those around me who couldn't conceive of me "doing nothing" all day that I would probably look for voluntary work in the New Year or perhaps even look for a job involving just a couple of mornings a week. However, I'm feeling (or at least THINK I'm feeling!) that I don't want that at all. My husband is at home as he took early retirement while having cancer treatment which is still ongoing. We manage financially on my small savings and his pension though will need to tighten our belts further for 3 or so years from 2017 as I have had my state pension delayed. Neither of us claim any benefits and manage well enough. The thing is that we have settled into a way of life that people "warned" us about - our days mostly consist of waking naturally, catching up with news and papers, chatting with each other over coffees, an hour or so doing housework, reading, regular walks (usually to the nearby park, town or shops) but we also have time apart spent with friends or doing other things we each enjoy individually. We have lovely grown up children and we see them every couple of weeks though we catch up every day on the phone. Our new grandchild will be born in a few months time and we are both looking forward to that. So ... we are feeling content, our stress levels are far lower these days and our lives have taken on a distinct laid back, go with the flow feeling. We are addressing diet and exercise regimes and generally taking a step back and we don't miss work at all! It feels right but I can't shake off a vague feeling of guilt! We still have people asking what our plans are and wanting to know how on earth we fill our time. I guess I'm interested to hear from others for whom retirement has turned out this way (I know it's still early days) despite having been highly motivated in our careers. I think it has come as something of a shock ..... Any thoughts? Many thanks for reading this. I feel better having put it all out there!
Rose
