Good day, Kally
Please allow me and your readers to give you a little peek into my background so you’ll understand where I come from.
In my younger years, I was an extremely active young woman. I flew with the national airline as a flight attendant for ten years then I moved forward to become a secretary for a couple of years promoted to be a manager of all sorts for three different corporations before setting up a successful pottery business for another decade.
During that period, I had two marriages, both failed miserably but gave me three wonderful burdens of joys and in turn, they made me a grandmother of seven adorable brawling kids.
Two years ago, I decided to sell off my pottery business because I wanted more time to spend visiting my grandchildren and my children. This gave me a nice tidy nest egg that for sure, will last me very comfortably until I passed on. I spent the first year of my retirement sorting out the sale of the business, there were plenty of loose ends that need to be tied up and I was really busy meeting the new partners and lawyers.
Into the second year of my retirement, I flew all over the world. Some trips are for family visitations and some are for me to check them off my bucket list.
So now, I’ve been there, done that. With all the time on my hands suddenly, I don’t know what to do. I have been sitting bored in my house for the past 6 months, not sure what else I can do.
My children have their own separate lives and as much as they love another pair of hands to take care of their children, I sure don’t want to spend the rest of my life, chasing those chubby feet. Plus, I keep getting a feeling that my children will rather I come and visit than I come and stay for good if you know what I mean. I can be quite bossy at times. Haha. Old habits die hard!
I’m not so sure that I want to go back and work. I mean it is good to have a daily goal to have something positive to wake up to but I’m no longer young and energetic, I can’t be doing business trips or boardroom presentations or chasing deadlines all the time.
So writing this email to you, all alone in my house, I have nothing to aim for. Maybe you can help me. Or maybe your readers can give some bright ideas. Whatever thrown in my way will be a blessing.
Thank you.
Best Regards,
Julianna W
Hi Julianna,
It is nice for you to drop me an email. I love hearing from you and happy that now you have entered the retirement stage.
There is plenty to do even with unlimited time on your hands. Retirement isn’t just about travelling around the world or babysitting your grandchildren. It is about pursuing dreams that have left unchecked while you were giving your youth away to your career and your family.
Have you considered perhaps giving back to society by volunteering at a cause you believe? There is a wide range of charities that will benefit from an extra pair of hands, from animal shelters, orphanages and elderly homes.
If you don’t want to be hands-on, you can consider taking up the back office roles like an event organiser, fundraiser or other administrative positions. This will fill up your time, allows you to network with your co-volunteers and bring you the satisfaction of making a change in the world we live in. Many non-profit organizations will have basic training to help you to integrate into their work. With your previous work experiences will bring invaluable contributions.
Another suggestion is for you to try your hand out at freelancing. Even though it still works, you get to choose the type of work that gets your interest, the size of the workload, the kind of industries you want to learn from and the kind of coworkers/clients you want to work with.
Unlike a traditional job (full or part-time), a freelancer is not as committed to a fixed schedule or type of work. Like myself, I can be copywriting yesterday, recruiting today and managing social media accounts tomorrow. There is plenty to get excited about and the best thing about freelancing, there is no age discrimination. Say goodbye to “oh, you are too old for this job” and nobody cares if you work in your pyjamas without makeup and dentures.
If you love travelling, you can even combine travelling with volunteerism. There are plenty of organizations that offer overseas volunteering programs in the third world or developing countries. You’ll find yourself looking after baby elephants at elephants sanctuaries in Thailand, teaching young kids in Africa or building a house in China.
Maybe you can try these ideas to find out which one suit you best. Retirement doesn’t mean staying at home twiddling your thumbs, waiting for reaper to knock on your door. Rather, it means that you have accomplished so much under your belt and it’s time to invest in trying out new things to enrich those previous life experiences.
Best of luck!
From,
Kally@MiddleMe.net
Need some career advice? Why not write to me or read these:
A Word Of Advice: Creepy Colleague
A Word Of Advice: A Line Between Infidelity At Work
A Word of Advice: Calling in Sick
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MiddleMe 
Hi Julianna .
Thank you for sharing your story . You have achieved so much and much more to achieve I am sure .
Well I am a Life coach so maybe we could have a chat sometime .
I will look forward to hearing from you .
Mandy
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Thank you, Mandy. I’ll be sure to pass on your message to Julianna.
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I retired 7 years ago. Two years ago my daughter set me up with my blog. Now I spend my time either riding public transport or sitting in a coffee shop. I recommend that you take up this hobby. Watching folks live their busy lives and trying figure out their motivations is a full time endeavor. I have already posted over 1000 posts. It is endlessly fun. Good luck either way
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Something else to do is read books ,write books , start a youtube channel , volunteer to help others, plant trees or help others start a recycling project …
You could also volunteer to become a tour guide in your county or the area you live in …
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Great suggestions indeed!
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Thank you for your reply…
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You’re most welcome!
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Thank you for sharing your story, Pat!
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https://ecohorizons.wordpress.com/2019/09/19/watch-aligning-being-doing-for-joyful-creation-on-youtube/
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My advice is to come up with a goal to work toward and a schedule to follow. Good luck. I had the same problem when I retired ten years ago. It took a while to come up with something.
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Thank you for sharing your experiences and giving advice. And welcome to MiddleMe!
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Great post Kally. Volunteer work can be very rewarding and it gives you a place to volunteer and form friendships too.
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Thank you so much, Ayesha.
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Love your advice to her. Mine is for her to search deeply for things she had always put on hold for “when I have the time” mode.
No time is a waste. Lots to invest in!.
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Totally in agreement with you, Herry. Thanks for chipping in!
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🤗 Glad to. ❤
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I’m presently listening to the audiobook ( after reading the book) Tuesdays With Morrie. I feel I’ve wasted so much time trying to figure out What Now? This book humbles me and opens my eyes. Good luck!💐
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I agree with you, Mandy. I love Tuesday with Morrie as well. I have the book in paperback instead.
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Hi. I am resetting my life at 55. Iy plan was to work ad a teacher for 20 years take my full retirement and ride off to a cottage in the country. Not going to happen my career didn’t take off until later in life. I am looking forward to retirement from working full time. In the meantime I am starting a parttime career as a writer and public speaker. Retirement for me means reinventing a part time hobbie that pays.
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Good for you!! Thank you for sharing your retiring experiences with us.
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What sort of person is a human being in retirement? The person who he really is, not one dependent upon work for social, economic, physical and psychological support. What is interesting in the world?
Last night Sixty Minutes had a story about the most prolific serial killer in the United States. He talks to a Texas Ranger, who has elicited stories of dozens of victims, all women, each murdered (without a sexual component?). How does a serial killer retire? This guy knows he is bad, but has an excellent memory at 80+ years; he can draw and has dozens of drawings of his victims. His recollections and admissions of guilt have closed 60+ muder cases. Some of victim-drawings remain unidentified and unassociated with any act. The reporter was justifiably creeped about interviewing him over the phone.
Anyone entering retirement should do anything, be of help somewhere, be a mentor; fill a pothole; sweep the street; plant flowers; look at the stars,;write, draw or compose.
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Great advice Kally. Keep moving, as in exercise, for instance daily walks or if health allows it, even more active sports…that’s what elder people keep telling me. Seems that as soon as you sit down and decrease your active lifestyle, health will also decrease.
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Thank you for adding on great tips!
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Interestingly, these days I’m thinking about retirement, which is quite an unusual thing for a guy in his late 30’s. But I’m giving this very serious thoughts.
Sure, I still have to support my family and bills to pay, which is done solely through working 5 days a week and receiving a paycheck at month’s end.
But just what if I call it a day?
For my own self. No more deadlines to meet or support to give. Just me and what I really want to do.
Gigantic step it would be and currently, I can only think about it.
But may be, some day…… 🙂
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It’s never too early to start planning your retirement actually. I know of friends in their 20s whom already started saving for their retirement because they want to travel around the world in their 50s without worries.
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Good advice, Peng Yu. Volunteering is a way to give back to Society. Depends on the environment of of course. Not all countries have developed as much volunteer options as the US or Europe for instance. (I don’t know about Asia, but I suspect there many options.
Within the Volunteering path, NGO’s can be a good option.
Now freelancing? That too is a good option. After I sold my market research company, I freelanced for 5-7 years. You choose your projects. Budgets and timing. NO worry about corporate costs and structure.
A third option: Traveling and blogging. 😉
(Don’t we all love blogging?)
Hope you and your family are well. And the Little Princess is happily growing.
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Thank you very much, peng yu! Great to see you back here again. Family is doing well, especially the little one who is starting to be really talkative!
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Isn’t it amazing how they re-invent the world? (In Hannah Arendt’s words)
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Great advise Kelly, glad I have you in my life. It’s so good to read your words.
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Thank you so much! And welcome to MiddleMe!
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Hi Julianna, what an amazing life you’ve had. I failed at school, and worked in dead end jobs all my working life. At 39 I set myself a challenge to see if I could beat my dyslexia and get some in print.
I taught myself from books as I couldn’t afford to do writing courses. I now write full time and have won writing competitions and have had short stories published too.
You have a lifetime of stories in you with all the traveling you done. There are many magazines and online journals with submission call-out for such articles. Have you thought about writing?
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Thank you, Paula for sharing your life journey with us. I’ll make sure that Julianna gets this comment. You’re an inspiration!
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Thank you 😊
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Great post! Love your weekly wisdom posts too, by the way. Thanks for sharing!🙂
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Thank you so much and welcome to MiddleMe!
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Thanks! Hope you’ll check out my blog too! 🙂
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I retired after 40 years of teaching high school and later middle school. I am filling up my bucket with a writing journey which has become my new passion and purpose.
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Good for you! Thank you for the motivation here.
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🤔 hmm 🤔
Same thing is reaching me
I end up taking care of my granddaughter
Which I enjoy most times but becomes a burden when it restricts me from my freedom…
I do get bored 😐 sometimes but I do love not having a full obligated job …
You will eventually come up with a system to keep yourself entertained most times without having to give up your new found freedom…
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Thank you for sharing this part of your life with us.
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Excellent thoughts, Kally. For a moment, when I began reading this, I thought you were the one writing. I thought to myself, “My Kally has found the fountain of youth.” Lol
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Hahaha! I am still far from retirement. I may never retire really. Maybe to take a short break every now and then but seriously, no gardening for me. I’ve zero patience for it.
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🙂
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Reblogged this on worldtraveller70.
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Thank you for sharing this out!
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I spent many years volunteering in my community. It’s so rewarding and connects one to their locality.
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Thank you for sharing, Chrisssie. And welcome to MiddleMe!
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I have learned something , great article.
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Thank you so much!
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