So many of us dream of not having to work. Many of us are here on Steemit because you feel like you could earn some extra cash, which can contribute to an earlier retirement. There are so many more enjoyable things we could do other than work. Some of us might prefer sitting at home to binge on Netflix and ice cream. Others might prefer going out, either into the city for shopping or clubbing, or having a picnic lying on the beach and playing with sand. If you had enough money you could also travel the world, meet new people and do some sight seeing.
Realistically..
This "dream" may not be as good as people often construct it to be. Research studies have shown that when people retire, issues of boredom and aimlessness come into play. People who continue to work after retirement in some capacity, such as volunteering or casual work, seem to improve their psychological well being (Chamberlin, 2014).
Even travelling can lose its appeal
Judging from my own life experience - yes I do love to travel when I do it. However, during my most recent trip when I was close to 2 months away from home, I started to feel loneliness, aimlessness as mentioned above and a gradual loss of interest. I was calling my parents more often as time went on and eventually gladly came home to Australia . I was actually glad to start work again and see all my colleagues and students.
Sense of purpose
Another few issues I can think of include losing the sense of purpose in society. At the moment I am a teacher and I have a very solid role to fulfill in society. I physically stand in the classroom, teach students stuff, and watch them learn and their faces light up when they learn something new. I ensure the classroom is in order and either deal with or report any problems that occur. Not only do I teach my students I sometimes also learn from them. Even if I continued to teach online (On Youtube) after retirement, I think I will miss the face-to-face human contact.
Structuring time
What happens when there is a lack of structure in how you spend your time? I find myself a lot less productive on weekends because I'm not forced to work between certain hours. Because there is no scheduled finishing time, I find that I procrastinate a lot more. I sometimes plan days where I would just sit at home and make Youtube videos, but typically I don't get as much done as I hope to because of the lack of structure.
Routine & Health
Typically, after I come back to work after a holiday, I would gain a lot of weight and be physically unfit. I have had other friends who have observed this change. When your life has a routine, you tend to eat healthier (you have no time to eat chips) and you tend to go to the gym regularly. When you travel, for example, typically you won't have access to a gym or a kitchen. When I'm at home, I'm less inclined to go out just to go to the gym, and when I have nothing to do I tend to eat more junk food.
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My mum is still happily working at 60 and cannot imagine life without work. While I'm not at that extreme, I do start to doubt whether my dream of life after retirement is realistic. What's your take on it? What do you plan to do if you were able to retire? Would your life evolve around traveling, watching TV or Steeming? How would you maintain your sense of purpose in society and structure your time? Look forward to hearing your thoughts.