Retirement Lifestyle: Consider Your Pre-retirement Activities

Those activities which a person enjoyed doing before retirement, they’d likely continue to enjoy once retired.  For example, during my working years, I gravitated toward activities which involved communication.  Activities such as teaching, consulting, public speaking and writing.  And these same interests, not surprisingly, have followed me into retirement.  After some degree of “floundering around” trying to identify my “retired self,” I’ve settled on writing – both a memoir and a blog, and on graciously accepting invitations to speak publicly.  And during my leisure time, I continue, as before retirement, to hike, bike, and kayak – a variety of outdoor activities. 

Clearly, I’m not unique.  I’m just one of many retired persons trying to find “my true retired self.”  If I can look to my past for clues to my ideal retirement lifestyle, so can many others. 

Many people have retired here in Central Oregon because of the accessibility to outdoor activities.  It’s no surprise therefore that many of them, in pre-retirement, enjoyed hiking, fishing and kayaking.  And now, during retirement, those same people continue to spend time enjoying those same outdoor activities. 

A friend of ours embraced photography as a hobby a decade or so prior to his retirement.  Once retired from corporate life, his pursuit of photography led him into a new career as a professional photographer.  A friend in Southern California spent much of his pre-retirement time sailing.  Once retired, he moved to a coastal town in the Pacific Northwest and he continues to sail. 

About a year ago, I visited a small coin shop and chatted for a while with older gentleman who owned and operated the store.  I asked him how long he’d been operating the shop and he told me “Since I retired six years ago.”

Then I asked him if, before retiring, he’d been a coin collector.  He said, “Yes, I started collecting coins when I was a kid.”  Clearly his “retirement business” allowed him to continue with his lifelong interest.

But here’s something I wonder about.  Something I call “old interests” – those hobbies and activities which we pursued early in our lives, but which we’ve long since abandoned.  During my teen years, I used to love fly fishing.  But during my adult life, I hardly fished at all.  I wonder now if, during retirement, I might return to fly fishing.  Partly because I live in a “fly fishing paradise,” I recently purchased a new fly fishing outfit.  Maybe I’ll return to fly fishing.  Maybe. 

You might consider the following questions:

• What did you love doing as a kid?  As an adult?
• What did you dislike doing as a kid?  As an adult?
• What about your work or career did you enjoy the most?
• What about your work or career did you dislike the most?
• What activities did you gravitate to in your leisure time?
• What activities might you pursue during retirement which would be in concert with your earlier interests?

Would you like to suggest any additional questions?  Please do.