Retirement Blues

I’m wondering if this is just me. This post is about my experience of two years of retirement. Let me explain.

Just over two years ago, i retired from full time work. I dedicated some of my time to my genealogy business – small scale but it made me happy – and some time to walking the dog, drinking coffee and doing the newspaper puzzles! On the whole, I was satisfied.

Around the 2nd anniversary in June/July, I found myself feeling unhappy with my lot. [Sidenote: I readily acknowledge that I’m lucky to have the time and money to worry about this sort of stuff.]. I stopped doing most of the things I’d been doing – particularly the genealogy – and my mood swung downwards. I reflected all the time that I had “no purpose” any more. At times, this felt like dangerous territory.

During a long month’s break away from our usual routine, I spent some time reflecting on what I want and, at last, I’m beginning to feel like it all makes sense again.

I drew a simple diagram of this (once a Business Analyst … ). I’d be interested in your experiences if you’re in the early years of your own retirement – especially as you’re still reading posts on Linked In which is after all really a forum for people who are working – isn’t it?

What are your early retirement experiences? Good? Bad? Ugly?