Retirement ennui - what if I don't want to do anything at all?

(And how to fight it by coaching and planning)

Something that surprised me about my own retirement is that I spent a bit of time right afterwards not wanting to do anything at all. Or not much.

Certainly nothing overtly productive.

I read eighty-some books in the first six months I was "retired" - traveled to seven foreign countries - and visited out of state friends twice. Not productive, but fun.

My research shows this is a common phenomena - that going-going-going until you are almost ready to drop results in a BIG drop once you stop-stop-stop. The simple act of getting ready to retire is sometimes so busy and overwhelming that you need a break after it.

In many cases, professional women have been burning the candle at both ends for a long time. Once retirement happens, it's tempting to just sit back, and take the break that you had been unable to take for so long. And, in reality, sometimes it's good to do a little of that.

But I'm so glad I did some planning first. It made those first six months wonderful instead of just .... there.

If I had waited until I actually stepped back to plan, I might have read more books, but I wouldn't have done most of the - admittedly fun and relaxing - things I did. Travel, as we all know, needs a bit of planning, and even knowing what to read and where to go are planning issues. I am lucky (and wise, lol) that I didn't plan really ambitious things for the beginning of my retirement, but also lucky I planned something.

The big planning for me was dreaming of my passions, designing Retire + Thrive, setting up this website, and initiating my form of retirement coaching. It will be a blast for me for the rest of my retirement to help others dream big, plan, design amazing retirement lifestyles and have wonderful, productive lives.

So how do you attack "retirement ennui"? You plan. You do some coaching with me to figure out what you want for the rest of your life - or at least in the short term. You make goals, and dream dreams, and you STILL give yourself grace to have downtime, especially in the beginning when your mind, body and soul are acclimating to being out of the rat race.

This kind of planning is both like and unlike the planning you did in your career - like, because it's all about you - what YOU want, need and can imagine. This may be the first time in your life you are free to dream a bit about what will make YOUR life shine. You have the skills to plan and execute those plans - you learned them long ago.

Let me help you use them to make YOUR life marvelous.

Contact me today!