Hi! I haven't been on much for the better part of a year. How is everyone? I am newly retired as of last April 2020 after 42 years at one company plus 3 years of work during college. I felt I had been working all my life. I was so happy to retire and not have work get in the way of my gardening and other projects. Of course with Covid, I managed to clear a lot of stuff out while stuck at home. I felt very productive! My garden and yard rarely suffers and always has been a priority. My problem is I never realized how much more busy I have become since retiring! It seems my To Do List just gets longer and longer! There is not one moment when I am not busy. I can't even keep up and turn the page of my daily calendar! Something had to give, so it was my time online with NGA among other things on the computer. I do miss NGA! What is this phenomenon I am experiencing? Has any one else who's retired found this to be true as well?? I felt busy enough when I was working. But now that I am retired, I hardly have time to keep up with everything! My (almost) mid year resolution is to reconnect with everyone on NGA. I still have my yard and garden. I just have missed talking about it! Mark my words, I will be back!! ~Cheryl, who still has a ShadyGreenThumb

Yes, I felt the same way when I retired and it hasn't slowed down. Very few are free to do as they please...certainly not if they are gardeners.

Congrats on your retirement! Hide the pen from whomever keeps writing on your to-do list. ; )

back Cheryl.

It's good to hear from you Cheryl.

@ShadyGreenThumb, We miss you in the plumeria forum!

Congratulations on your retirement! A friend of mine is retiring too!

I've been retired for 8 years now. Here's my perspective:

Retirement is a long term event (we hope!). There's a tendency to want to do everything the first month/summer/year. When you were working there was a person who told you what to do. You probably remember them, you called them the "Boss". Now that you are retired you have taken over from the Boss and you are telling yourself what to do. But that's only half the job, you may remember the Boss occasionally telling you not to do some stuff. Well, you need to do that too. Feel free to tell yourself to take a day off, or not to do a given task today or shelve a project for a few months or even to give it up entirely. You get to decide what to do and what not to do.

Retirement changes you. After a year or two of being retired your interests will shift or change completely. Let this happen. Be like the butterfly coming out of the cocoon and spread your new wings and fly.

So don't be afraid to periodically check in with yourself (I think you are doing that now) and jettison anything that isn't working for you or to try out things you think will make you happy. The point is to be happy, so do what makes you happy and forget the other stuff. After all, if you wanted to be miserable and stressed you could simply go back to work.

Welcome back, and congratulations on your retirement, Cheryl! I was off the site for a couple of years myself, and came back earlier in the year when I realized how much I missed everyone here

It does take a while to adjust to being retired (hubs and I both retired in 2011, so I'm pretty well adjusted now!). I know everyone claims to be busier than ever once they retire, but in my case I think it's just that everything takes me twice as long to get done as it used to. For instance - when working in the garden, instead of rushing to get things planted as quickly as possible, I'll put a few plants in and then just take time to enjoy listening to the birds and watching the bees, maybe admiring how large all of the trees that encircle our yard have become... sometimes I think it's a wonder I get anything done at all

Enjoy life - as Henderman said, "The point is to be happy, so do what makes you happy and forget the other stuff. After all, if you wanted to be miserable and stressed you could simply go back to work." I couldn't agree more!

Hey Hendermann, I love your post! Agree 100%. You're a good writer. Is that what you did in your former life? Love your profile picture too. I remember them from when I was a kid. Laughed with their antics until my sides hurt on Saturday mornings!

Thanks John. No I wasn't a writer but I sent a lot of emails explaining stuff.
We watched the Little Rascals too. Spanky and Petey (the Dog) were my favorites.
Have fun!