My husband has retired 4 times (!!!!!) He is 20 years older than I am, so it is interesting to see what has happened to him in each time he retired:
1. Off the farm. (age 66) Into town - or really on the outskirts of town on a 10 acre block of land. The transition from 7000 acres to 10 was quite confining for him, but he had plenty to do to start off with. Six months later he was bored silly, so went to work for the council laying a footpath. Loved this job, but it ran out as soon as the footpaths were finished! Retired.
2. Our neighbours on the farm next door to ours moved to Pakistan as missionaries. Asked DH if he would manage their farm in their absence. Back to farming 7000 acres, loved it. 7 years later, retired again.
3. Decided to do the grey nomad thing, travelling around Australia. Did not enjoy this very much, sort of aimless for DH. Ended up settling for 5 years in Townsville, North Queensland. During this period DH built us a home. Next paid job: caretaking a youth hostel. Getting a bit long in the tooth by now for the energy of the young ones, so this this time around, decided to really think about what to do during retirement. Retired. Again.
4. DH thought long and hard about his hobbies: birds, small animals, chickens, building. Made a plan of action for building averies, rabbit hutches etc. Quite contented and felt productive, which is really the main thing for DH. Has just started up a little side-line business selling month old chickens, but this is not really out of retirement, just something he enjoys doing. It also allows him to interact with lots of different people in the community.
Meanwhile ... I still work!! Having observed the above over a long period of time, the main lesson is to have a goal for yourself that you feel comfortable with, something to get out of bed for, and something that will add quality to your life. I work in the aged care industry and one of the greatest problems we see in our elders is depression. Much of this is due to lack of purpose in day to day life. Once a program is put into place and a person feels that he/she is contributing something worthwhile to family/friends/community, the depression often just disappears. Hope some of this is helpful. Enjoy your retirement, and have FUN!! "heartstrings: