Retirement - What Could You Do During the Day When You No Longer Go to Work? By Susan Kersley
For some people the thought of retirement fills them with dread, especially if they have got into a habit of not going out much except for going to work and perhaps going to church or other religious places of worship. They become very worried about how to fill their days once retired and even if they have plenty to do perhaps in relation to caring for their grandchildren there are a lot of hours when they are at school or in bed and the days seem to stretch out filled with emptiness.
Of course how you decide to fill your retirement time is to some extent up to you but initially you may need to make a shift in your mindset about what you could have the opportunity to do now that you no longer fill your day with working.
If you are someone who has spent most of your life doing things for others then deciding what you would really like for yourself might be a challenge for you. However if you love caring for others but your day seems empty without work then you could consider contacting some volunteer agencies, or look in your local paper for indications of volunteers needed in your area. There are usually opportunities for volunteers who want to care for others less able than themselves. These people might be disabled or recovering from an illness and need someone to do some odd jobs for them or just call in for a chat on a regular basis.
On the other hand you might like to help clear some beaches or build a wall or two and contacting a big organisation such as the National Trust may open your eyes to various opportunities available.
Yet again once you take a bit of time to get used to the idea of not going to work you might instead want to pursue a learning opportunity to get to grips with a subject you've always been interested in yet never had the time to learn about.
Perhaps you've always wanted to travel to far off places and the first step to doing this might be to learn some conversational phrases in the language of that country.
So don't despair and think you'll be bored when you retire. There are a wealth of things to do or get involved in. Some may involve you spending some of your hard earned pension whereas others might actually be employment so you can increase you income somewhat.
