So, you’ve decided when you’re going to retire and you know what you’re going to do in the days leading up to your final day in work. You might even have some long term goals that you know you want to achieve during the years of retirement you have ahead of you. But what about those first few days and weeks?
The transition from being employed to being retired can be tricky to navigate, and can cast a gloomy cloud over what should be a happy period of your life if not managed successfully. So, here are our top tips for what to do – and not to do – during the first thirty days of retirement:
- Don’t delay in making plans – If you don’t have any concrete plans for what you want to do with your retirement, it’s a good idea to start making those sooner rather than later to ensure your life away from work has a sense of purpose. But it’s also important to think about the short term too: get in contact with friends and family and set some dates in your diary to go on a day trip or long weekend together, or simply to meet up for coffee. An active social life doesn’t happen on its own, so get the ball rolling early on.
- Limit your screen time – The modern world of 24-hour news can be both a blessing and a curse, as the need to remain constantly up-to-date with current affairs can be addictive and turn you into a couch potato before you even realise it. ‘Binge watching’ series after series on streaming services such as Netflix can also be tempting with so much free time on your hands, but it’s worth keeping in mind that TV on demand is there to make it easier to fit viewing around your life, not to become your life!
- Take some time to de-stress – Just because you’ve left the world of work behind doesn’t mean that those things that cause you stress will magically disappear. In fact, it’s quite likely that you’ve been putting off tackling some of the stressful elements of your life outside of work, so coming up with a strategy to address and resolve these as early as possible once you retire will help to ensure you can truly enjoy what should be the most relaxed period of your life.
- Celebrate! – It might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people bypass the opportunity to celebrate reaching one of life’s biggest milestones. However you want to mark the occasion – a weekend away, a fancy meal, an expensive bottle of bubbly – it’s important to recognise the years of hard work you’ve put into being able to retire, so do it!
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