The Retirement Newsletter: Dark morning and early sunsets

Issue Number: 184 (37) — why are they a problem now?

Photo by Author — sunset at the beach

Welcome

Welcome to issue 184 (37).

This is an odd one this week and something I never thought I’d be writing about: my reaction to dark mornings and early sunsets. Dark mornings and early sunsets never troubled me when I worked, but now that I’m retired, they seem more noticeable.

Dark morning and early sunsets

I have written a lot about retirement and how it should be viewed as a great opportunity — the summer of life and not the autumn or winter (Retirement as changing seasons — retirement is not the autumn but the summer). But, for some reason, now that I am retired, this approaching winter has hit me harder than I expected.

Retirement, like any major life transition, can bring unexpected challenges. For me, one such adjustment has been dark mornings and early sunsets, which never bothered me while working. Yes, it was a pain going to and coming home from work in the dark, but I didn’t notice it. (One exception to this was when I lived in Glasgow. In Glasgow, winter days are incredibly short, and we used to get these thick grey cloud days when it never seemed to get light, even at lunchtime.) But now the…