Tired now that I am retired...

by Sunshine from Pa.

I retired after 30 yrs in Early Intervention.

It has been very difficult retiring during COVID without the traditional send-off. It feels so anti-climactic and flat.

My husband has been ill so the summer was spent driving back and forth to the hospital for months. He is stable but vulnerable. So, we quarantine quite a bit.

All I do is sleep and eat! I have very little motivation.

It is 3 am and I have been up since 2am. I fell asleep at 6;30pm... I don't know what to do?

I am usually a burst of energy. I am not sure if I am depressed, adrenal fatigue or just the culmination of retiring, adjusting and COVID....so glad I found your site

Comments for Tired now that I am retired...

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sleep issues
by: heidi

I have some similarity to carol. as far as the 1pm nap and looking forward to going to bed again. i am just into my second year of retirement. it happened abruptly for me, which doesn't make it easier...financially or emotionally.

I too thought i would have got more done in one year. i am motivated but too often don't have the energy i once did.

i try to nap only 20 minutes or so. naps almost always throw off my sleep at night. i was taking 2 hour naps when i first retired. i guess we are all so tired.

i am hoping to eventually not need a nap so that i can get a job again. part time.
Segmenting
by: Tracy

I agree that they put so much emphasis on the financial portion of retiring and not enough on the social aspects.

What saved me when I moved to a rural area was going to the local dog park. This is my social activity for the day and once Covid is over I will actually meet some of them in restaurants and in one another’s homes.

I retired a few years ago but took a part time job that I am ending mid December. Covid affected that job and it’s no longer a good fit.

The worse part of retiring now is that there is no traveling. Early retirement is the perfect time and health to travel and finally do that bucket list. Every day is another day we can’t do this in a limited amount of time.

We recently sold our house and moved full time to our cabin. The reality of my age really hit when the financial adviser said to live on the proceeds of the house. My immediate thought was "Why aren’t we saving this for later?" When I realized "this IS the "later" that we saved for our entire lives! Trouble is, you never see yourself being at that age. We all feel younger than we really are. So that is another shift. The shift from saving to spending the nest egg.

I am hopeful about the vaccine and hope not too many more months are on hold. I guess we should read those books, binge watch those tv shows and FaceTime until life changes again.
Try writing your memoirs
by: Elliott Katz

When you wake up at 3 a.m. and can't sleep, get out of bed and work on writing your memoirs -- writing your life story will keep your brain occupied.

When you get tired, go back to sleep. When you wake up keep working on writing your life story.

There will be a lot of interesting research to do and when you finish you will have something to show your family -- especially the younger members of your family.

Being retired you can write anytime you want. You are not locked into 9-5. A lot of writers get up at 3 a.m. to write. It's quiet. Your mind is fresh. Everybody else is sleeping.

Try it.
I can relate
by: Jeanne Savelle/Atlanta

I can relate so much to this. I was downsized into retirement a few years ago and floundered for a while because I had not planned for, much less even thought about, what my life would be like in retirement.

Too many of us do not think to plan for these years the way we do with our careers, educations, families. There are many aspects to consider such as of course, financial, but also physical, social, mental and spiritual aspects.

As others have said, give yourself some time to rest and situate. Take this time to think about how you want to live the rest of your life, what you want to do, who you want to be. THen you can start to take some steps to creating the next stage of your life.

Above all, be kind to yourself.
Sleep
by: Carol Arsenault

I'm in my second year of retirement and I am still sleeping a lot. Long 2 hour naps in the afternoon.

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I think about is the nap I am going to take around 1pm. Then after the nap, the first thing I think about is bedtime.

I'm disappointed that I am not doing all the things I always thought I would do when retired. As you, I have no motivation.

I have 3 retired sisters, all very active and they don't take naps, ha, ha. One is older than me.

I feel I am wasting my retirement years by sleeping them away. I do walk the dog for 1 1/2 hours a day still but he is so old. What will I do when he is gone? Will i still walk? Will I have to force myself?

I do love sleeping though, after all these years, it feels like a luxury to sleep so much. I will enjoy it while I can.
Sleep is ok
by: Wendy, Retirement Enthusiast/Coach

Early in Retirement, sleep is ok.

Give yourself permission to sleep and rest.

Just think -- you completed a lifetime of education and work. Busy-Busy every day, running through life, to get to your utopia, Retirement. You may be burned out from a lifetime of running. You did it! You deserve some downtime -- allow yourself some time off.

Now, Breathe Deeply. Rest and Relaxation are called for. Slow down and allow your mind, body, and soul to rejuvenate.

** Sleep Problem ** -- this becomes a true problem if you remain sleeping months and years into retirement. At that point, you are avoiding life, possibly in depression.

See your doctor for temporary help to get your life back to the norm... the new retired norm.

Retirement ROcks!
(just takes some time to get there)

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