As I have posted before, I often read about people being “bored” in retirement, or claiming that they plan to work forever because otherwise they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. I can’t comprehend a life so empty and lacking in imagination that it would be reduced to such a pitiful state.

I generally just stay home for “vacations”. In fact, one of my best vacations ever was a few years ago when my wife was out of town for a week, and I took off from work at the same time. At the end of the week I suddenly realized that without planning it I had just spent 5-days with absolutely zero interaction with another human being. I was simply puttering around the house and amusing myself with a variety of personal hobbies and activities at home, and for an entire week I had had neither the need nor desire to step off our property for anything. I hadn’t even gone out to a store, and it was great.

I do think that when I retire I will impose a little “structure” to my life. I don’t think it would be good to wake up every day with no clue as to what you will do. I think that I would draw up a schedule for a regular daily routine and try to establish a pattern to it (6AM-7AM read the paper; 7AM-9AM houseclean; etc). I would probably even define weekly or monthly plans with goals to reach, such as a list of “home-improvement projects for this month”, or a monthly “local tourist attraction visit”.

My major hobbies are photography, gardening and I own, though currently rarely play several musical instruments (all of these are solitary pursuits). I also enjoy cooking, and I would love to have more time to clean and fix up our house nicer. Some of the ways I can see myself spending my time are;

Daily Activities
Walking/Exercising (1-2hr)
Reading newspapers/books (1-2hr)
General housecleaning (1-2hr)
Cooking (1-2hr)
Surfing the Web/learning stuff (Wikipedia etc; 1hr+)
Blogging/Interacting with others on-line (Eons, Flickr etc;1hr+)
Playing music (piano, dulcimer, electronic; 1-2hr)

Rotating Activities (weekly estimates)
Taking Photographs (10hr)
Processing photographs on computer/printer (10hr)
Gardening (10 months; 3-4hr/day x 4days/week = 12-16hr)
Home projects/repairs (2-10hr)
Exploring local “attractions” (2-4hr)

Other Options...
Take formal classes in Photography (find out what I’ve been doing wrong for the last 35 years)
Take formal classes in Gardening (Longwood Gardens offers classes I’d love to have the time to take)
Take Classes toward (and become a?) Certified Financial Planner. (Not only interesting, but it could be extremely useful in personal affairs, even if I don’t get a “job” doing it.)
Volunteer at the local Senior Center and/or hospice (I used to volunteer at the SC, and my wife currently works with a local hospice).

With all of this waiting for me, I just don’t know how I find the time to work for a living. I also can’t imagine how anyone could be bored with life just because they don’t have someone telling them what to do in exchange for money (i.e. “work”).