I’m retired so I fill my days doing whatever I want. But I’m always interested in what other people would do if they had more free time.

25 points
*

I can tell you exactly what I do, because 25 years ago, I chose to forgo promotions at work and prioritize free time and quality of life over money:

I spend time with my family.
I do the things I want while I’m still young (or rather, while I was still young 🙂).
Generally leading a good life free of stress and drama.

You were given only one life. You have a finite set of hours on this dirtball, and the countdown is running. Every extra hour you give to your employer in exchange for money is an hour you don’t spend with your loved ones, and you can’t buy it back. Retirement age is too late to enjoy your life.

Nobody goes to their graves thinking they should have worked more.

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I can tell you exactly what I do, because 25 years ago, I chose to forgo promotions at work and prioritize free time and quality of life over money:

My hero! I just recently retired at 55 for same reason.

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3 points

I’m the same age and I’ve been retired for 25 years 🙂

I have a job I really enjoy that I do a few hours a day, for the money sure, but also for fun. And then I enjoy a lot of extra hours doing the things I want.

It’s like retirement but with a few hours of fun stuff I gotta do every day, sure, but it’s still fun. When I retire for real, I just won’t do the few hours of fun no more.

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I’m the same age and I’ve been retired for 25 years

I would have if I could have. But I had to wait until I hit the “20-years in” mark to be able to get my pension. It’s the lowest pension because I’m out early, but like you, I wanna enjoy stuff while I’m still fit and healthy.

My gf is 35, so she kinda sorta tried to talk me out of it. She’s fine with our age difference, but I think she got caught up in “OMG you’re getting a pension!” haha

After she noticed how much I mess around and do whatever I want now, she sorta changed her attitude. But I’ll be honest, she seems to be a little passive-aggressive. Maybe jealous of it?

Even tho she makes more money than I do, she seems a little bit resentful, so I dialed back the “Oh I just read this really good book all day” comments.

Not sure if our relationship will make it. But I don’t care. I have no regrets about retiring early. And now I get to fuck around on Lemmy all day too! haha

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1 point

Nobody goes to their graves thinking they should have worked more.

There are plenty of workaholics that absolutely think they should have worked more in their last moments.

They tend to be awful people.

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Contribute more to FOSS. Maybe start my own open source project.

Definitely more 3d model design.

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5 points

nothing,

glorious nothing

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Nothing, can be very glorious! I make sure to load that into my day every day.

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5 points

I read a lot. I would read more.

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1 point

Scrolling killed my reading habit . I’d love to get it back .

Part of the problem is buying the books I think I should read, instead of the books I would enjoy reading. !!

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5 points

I already have a lot of free time when my boys go to their moms for the week, and it’s fairly busy when they are with me. Plus I work from home, and enjoy a good amount of autonomy with my workload.

You could say I am balancing both sides of this discussion. But I’ve been dealing with a lot of baggage — both from my marriage and other trauma from growing up — so despite my available free time, I struggle to find motivation to do things outside of the basic responsibilities of being an adult/father.

It’s not for a lack of want though. I have a long list of things I want to do. Some more expensive than others. But even the free stuff isn’t that appealing at the moment.

Ideally, I would like to get into exercising regularly, and pick back up on woodworking. I want to hardscape my backyard by building a stone patio/fire pit, and rebuild my deck. Today it occurred to me that I could build a chicken coop and raise chickens, and potentially sell the excess eggs for a little extra income. I also have to paint and decorate my house.

I suck at motivating myself. 🤣

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Brother, I hear you and I feel you. I know all about baggage. Just let it go little by little if you can’t let it go all at once. You got this!

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2 points

Thanks! I’ve been in therapy for the past year and a half, and have been doing all of the hard work. I’m definitely in a much better place than before, but I’m still stuck in the freeze. I’m sure it’ll come back eventually, but right now, like you said, I’m just letting it go little by little. 😊

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I’m with ya in spirit, friend.

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