From congratulations to are you bored yet?

As previously discussed, when you first tell folks you retired their standard reply is “congratulations.”

It took awhile to not feel awkward in replying, but my standard response now is to just to say “thank you.”

But when you run into some of the same people, now that it’s been 5 months, a few ask, “are you bored yet?”

However, it hasn’t taken any time at all to feel comfortable responding to this question: “absolutely not.”

While much has been written regarding why this occurs for some people (loss of work identity, structure, socialization, purpose, etc.) it seems that keeping my answer as simple as possible helps to bring an end to this line of questioning, although I’m always happy to go into more depth for anyone sincerely interested in discussing.

Given the ability to spend more time with family and friends, pursue leisure activities, pleasure reading, explore new interests/hobbies, volunteerism, etc., it’s really a shame that some feel bored.

I’ll just continue to document my thoughts for anyone who happens to end up at this site.