Six Months Retired, I’m struggling.

Jeff, maybe look at one of the casting kits for a small machine tool, like Quorn, or Die Filer. Build a machine from scratch, that'll keep you occupied for a while.
 
If you have your old work mates relatively close make a boys club say last Friday of the month where you all get together for beer and bulldust sessions. You supply the beer.
Thats what we have done and it works well.
Then once a year wives/girlfriends are invited for an end of year celebration.
Its not much, only 12 a year but it feels good.
 
Jeff, while I have not had any luck volunteering for any organization, that does not mean you will fall flat. I live in a rural area, and there's just not a big need, at least it seems that way.

Offer your services to anyone you want to help.
I miss the work, but not the stress.

Good luck.
 
It is an adjustment, I am lucky in that I didn't have to go cold turkey. I get to work on my terms, and don't have to ask for a day off I just don't make myself available.

It also helps that I still have a child in school, an old house that always wants attention and several old cars to tinker with so finding the time to get bored with the shop is way down the list.

Have you looked into taking any classes? Butte College has a great welding program, that could give you some structure and get you interacting with others with similar interests. I was having a great time taking classes until Covid put a stop to it, looking forward to being able to return now that things are opening up.


You spent 40+ years working, it takes time to adjust to a new lifestyle. I'm sure you will find your groove, just give it time.
 
I retired for health reasons almost 20 years ago. I kept active doing things that I liked. Mostly racing sailboats and helping a friend who worked on boats. Did boat deliveries up and down the coast of Baja. After two years of this I took off on my sailboat. Was gone for seven years. Never got past Mexico. The life was too good and the living was too easy. Came back to the US. Then it was more deliveries up and down the coat of Baja. When my elderly mother needed a place to live I made a promise to her that I would take care of her for the rest of her life. She lived for another 6 1/2 years. During this time I spent time taking care of the house and five acres. I also bought a lathe and a mill drill. Big learning curve. I hadn't operated a lathe or mill since high school. I also bought an old 1966 MG Midget that I have been slowly resurrecting. Mom pasted away last June at 102 years old. Two months shy of her 103 birthday.

Kids wanted me to move closer to my daughter. Found a fixer upper house last December that has been kicking my butt. The inside is getting close to being done and have started working on the outside.

I spend as much time as I can going to my grandkids events. And helping my kids with their projects. For example my son recently bought another rental property. It needed a ton of work. I got recruited to bring the electrical up to snuff. Spent the last week doing that.

I think the biggest difference for me from a lot of people is that I didn't socialize with the people that I worked with. Work was not my life. It was just a way to pay the bills. I had an active life away from work. So finding stuff to do was not a problem. I had more time to do what I really liked to do after I retired.

Jeff you need to spend time doing what you like to do. What you listed in your post was just chores. Do you have a bucket list? That might be a good start. You will figure it out.
 
Jeff, think of this as an opportunity. Now when I visit my kids and grandkids, wife and I can work around their schedules. No worry on adjusting a schedule for us. When I make something or do a project for someone. my terms are I will take my time to do it right. No rushing. Always wanted to learn calculus. Now I can actually do problems in differential cal. Once in while go to the local coffee shop and shoot the bull with some fellow retires. Made some new friends. I've known too many retired fellows that sat in the couch watching tv with a beer in hand and did nothing else. They usually don't last very long. Keep busy my friend. Mark
 
I’ve been retired for five years and stay busy by spending a couple hours a day doing yard work or other chores and the balance of the day in my metal shop creating or repairing things I “need”. I’ve also put the word out to my neighbors that I’m the local repair and metal fab guy and they bring me their projects. Keep some stock materials on hand so it’s easy to pick up a project and run with it.
Welding was previously mentioned and if you don’t already, I second the suggestion. Practicing and fabricating “stuff” for myself and the neighbors is a good creative exercise and rewarding.
Community volunteer work is on my bucket list if I ever get bored.
 
I watched a good TED talk on happiness. The speaker said there are three components of happiness…miss any one, it spells trouble. They are enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose. This explains to me why so many of us have what ought to be ideal lives, but don’t really turn out like that. I used to play 5 or 6 rounds of golf a week. Fun, enjoyable, but… not good. No purpose. I volunteered at the local railroad museum and ran the big lathe and mill. Some of the people were great, but some were just outrageous…not enjoyable. But I have 5 patents in the field of nuclear fusion energy, and have a small team of remarkable people…the “work” is terrifically fun, a combination of lots of the projects talked about here, infinite shop machine work, electronics design, software development, vacuum systems, machining titanium and erbium. etc.
And as you can imagine, any success would have immense implications. So now I have the three factors under some control, and I can say this really works. We would all have different solutions, but those three factors have to be satisfied.

Good luck!
 
Winegrower said:
I watched a good TED talk on happiness. The speaker said there are three components of happiness…miss any one, it spells trouble. They are enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose. This explains to me why so many of us have what ought to be ideal lives, but don’t really turn out like that. I used to play 5 or 6 rounds of golf a week. Fun, enjoyable, but… not good. No purpose. I volunteered at the local railroad museum and ran the big lathe and mill. Some of the people were great, but some were just outrageous…not enjoyable. But I have 5 patents in the field of nuclear fusion energy, and have a small team of remarkable people…the “work” is terrifically fun, a combination of lots of the projects talked about here, infinite shop machine work, electronics design, software development, vacuum systems, machining titanium and erbium. etc.
And as you can imagine, any success would have immense implications. So now I have the three factors under some control, and I can say this really works. We would all have different solutions, but those three factors have to be satisfied.

Good luck!
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This is some seriously good advice. Thank you for posting!


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