Dear LPG.

I have been retired for the past 18 years now, and I can remember looking forward to the prospect; I was looking forward to it so much…

No more being woken by the harsh sound of my clock alarm going off, no more having to face really cold mornings when I would rather stay tucked up in bed, no more having to fight to get on a bus in the rush hour, no more having to miss breakfast, no more watching the clock and mentally begging it to get to five o’clock and home-time, no more getting caught up in bus strikes and traffic jams.  I could not wait.

When I finally got to retirement, I booked a holiday and when I got back I settled into a much lazier way of life.  I really enjoyed getting up when I felt like and often I spent most of the morning occupying myself in the pastime of having back-to-back sessions of ‘another 40 winks’.  I got involved doing some of those things around the house that I have always meant to, and my family kept me busy for a while.  But then I realised that they were still working and I could not phone them during the day.  To be honest, it did not take long for me to realise that I really valued the routine that work forced me to follow pre-retirement.

So now I have devised a new routine which is much more relaxed and flexible but that keeps me busy.  It includes some volunteering one day a week, some exercise sessions and even my favourite television programs but it is much more detailed than that. 

I get up and dress, make and eat breakfast, take my pills, open my mail, and so on, in the same order every morning and I have found that, as a result, everything gets done and I realise much more quickly if I have missed something.

So I would advise that having a routine is a really important aspect of being retired and though there is a temptation to get lazy, and there will be days when we really don’t feel like getting into it, we are likely to stay healthier both physically and especially mentally by keeping busy.

IG, Bellingham. 

LPG agrees with IG’s assessment of this situation even though we would suggest a periodical review of any routine that individual circumstances dictate. We have also found some World Wide Web offerings on the subject.

(►►►)   (►►►)     (►►►)    (►►►)