This is not meant to be any kind of advice. More of a cautionary tale…
I actually retired at the end of August, 2017. It was really more of, “I’ve had enough; I quit!”, with my next job prospect being no job. This was in some ways a good move, but in other ways, not so good. I was not able to stay and work the incredible amounts of overtime I was going to use to pay off some credit cards and other bills. Looking back, after twenty years at Dell, through all its ups and downs (and mine; that was almost a third of my life), I think that my timing was good, if not excellent. The job was adversely affecting my health (mostly because, insomnia/stress) and some of the decisions being made by the company were beginning to worry me. But, hey, what do I know. So, enough of the job.
One would think that, with all of the extra time I then had (I was usually working 50-60 hours a week) that I would have trouble finding something to do. Not so. There is so much yard work and house repair needed that I quickly found I did not have the time. Stuff I wanted to do (learn Spanish, for instance) went on a back burner. I wrote myself a schedule, stuck to it for about a month…
I also started drinking on week nights. “Hey! It’s Tuesday and I don’t have to work tomorrow. I can have a beer or six!” Which also meant that Wednesday, I was hung-over-worthless. I did this for a month or so, several times a week, then clamped down to drinking only on Friday night. Sometimes Saturday. This year, I pretty much quit, except to celebrate my six month anniversary. (By the way, Applejack is not suitable for drinking.
Save it for your apple pie.)
Then, in February, I had knee surgery, so I was off my feet pretty much. I was already spending too much time in video games (Fallout 4, Final Fantasy XIV), but I decided to revisit Star Wars: The Old Republic while I was recuperating, so now more of my time is being wasted. It is fun, though. And Final Fantasy XV
comes out this month, so I will be wasting even more time on that.
On the plus side, I do get to see more movies during the matinee, which I prefer, as it’s cheaper and there are usually fewer assholes. Or, I can see a midnight premier without worrying about having to get up in the morning. If I do need a nap in the afternoon, I can go for it. I have been able to catch up on some TV and movies that I wanted to see. If I need to go somewhere or take time off, I don’t have to worry about asking anyone’s permission. And no one bitches at me about my job performance. No job!
The money is OK; I don’t have the overtime option any more, so my income is pretty fixed. But lacking most of the taxes and fees that sucked the life out of my paychecks, I am doing OK.
Well, time to get some things done. My Jedi is not going to level herself, so I had better sign in and get’r’done!