What's So Cool About Retirement?

June 4, 2016 was Day 1 of the new chapter in my life, "Retirement" and I hit the ground running. With almost 3 months into my retirement, I have come up with the Top 10 Coolest Things About Retirement (so far).  

1.  You Get to Write a New Story
When you retire, you have an opportunity to re-create yourself.  Always wanted to exercise more?  Now you can.  You want to be a traveler? Do it.  You want to be a full time homemaker and cook, make window dressings and decorate your house?  Now you can.  The opportunities are endless.  Take a class, learn a hobby.  Create the person you want to be! 

2.  You Get to Spoil Your Family and Friends
It's so difficult to give your loved ones the attention you want to give them when you are working a full time job.  Some ways I am spoiling my family and friends are:  shopping with my daughter, visiting my dad more often, visiting my ill friend and cooking for her family, planning mini trips with my friends and family, traveling to help my son and daughter-in-law when they move into their new house and finding fun things to do with my friends.    

3.  Comfy Clothes
Whenever I came home from work, the first thing I did (unless I stopped at the health club on the way home) was to put on my comfy clothes for the evening.  Now I get to put on my comfy clothes first thing in the morning, which just happens to be my exercise attire.  

4.  You.Can.Do.It.Tomorrow.
I almost always put more activities on my agenda than I have time for.  Between my personal and school projects, there were always deadlines looming over my head.  Unfinished projects give me stress.  Now that I can focus on just one project at a time, and I don't seem to be faced with any immediate deadlines, my life is definitely less stressful.

5.  Car Mileage, Maintenance, Gas
While I was working, I filled up my car every 4-5 days, put an extraordinary amount of miles on it, and was always taking it in for maintenance (oil changes).  Since retirement, I fill up my car once every couple of weeks and the mileage and maintenance have slowed way down.  

6.  Having Time for Myself
Having an opportunity to do things for myself is incredible.  Among my favorites:  sewing, cooking, gardening, traveling, shopping, reading, exercising.  On the horizon:  decorating my home and maybe some remodeling.

7.  Having An Open Schedule
When you are working full time, it's extremely difficult to schedule doctor appointments, hair appointments, and even find time to grocery shop and perform household duties.  When you retire, arranging your schedule is less stressful.  The best part of having an open schedule is that when I want to spend time with my grand babies (expected in January), I can!  

8. Late Night TV 
My favorites:  Late Show With Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show With James Corden.  So funny.

9.  Becoming More Interesting
If your career takes up a considerable amount of your time (like mine did) you become very limited in what you are exposed to and in turn, what you can talk about with other people.  Only being able to talk about your career or topics related to your career and nothing else makes you very uninteresting.  I now have more time to read, watch and listen to world and local news and develop and participate in hobbies and interests that I can share with other people.  


10.  Flexible Travel Dates
I spend a lot of time in Arizona.  As a teacher, I was only able to travel during weekends, holidays and summer - the most expensive time to fly.  Travel dates were not flexible.  I have found marvelous air fare to Arizona since I can travel on flexible dates.  Definitely an advantage of being retired!