At Last! Retiring for GOOD!

I now answer my landline phone (where 90% of the calls happen) with: Fraud division, Sheriff's Dept. Stops them in their tracks. Cold.

Mostly, very well. The Good: My stress levels have plummeted. My skin is clear, my respiratory system is vastly improved, and my overall physical condition is healthier. Some of that is having time to visit the doctor BEFORE I get run-down and sick, but some is just having the freedom to take care of myself. For example, a recent cold sidelined me for nearly a week, but I'm back to normal now, rather than dragging myself around for weeks of back & forth to the doctor's. When I am more tired than usual, I have the freedom to take a nap when it's needed. I found that I got more done when I added in some substitute teaching, 2-3 times a week or so. It's actually easier to tackle the household tasks when I have the opportunity to get out of the house a few times a week. The money is sufficient. I like the extra money from subbing, and if I make more than $5,000 in a single calendar year, I can wipe out one of those zero years in Social Security, making my eve...

Short Answer: No. Long Answer: Hell, No. I'm 67. I retired last year, after realizing that the old age I'd been waiting for had arrived. In addition to finally getting off the merry-go-round of too little time, and not enough spent with people who matter to me, or activities that I truly enjoyed, I said: enough. Was my first year what I'd expected? Not even close. To begin with, I was humbled to realize that, planner though I was, completely unstructured time is not something I handled well. Before the year was up, I'd started taking local teaching sub jobs, 2-3 times a week. I actually made better progress with writing after I had less time in which to accomplish it. The district I sub in has generally nice kids, the work allows me to plan and make notes on my writing, and I am still able to reject jobs and have fun instead. Due to an unexpected illness on my husband's part, I did not get as much travel as I would have liked. However, he is better now, ...