The Retirement Newsletter: My 15 biggest surprises from no longer working

Issue Number: 172 (25) — I was surprised at what surprised me

Photo by Author — Autumn Walks

Welcome

In issue 172 (25) this week, I look at my 15 biggest surprises since I retired.

The surprises were a mixed bag and not what I was expecting. The surprises were surprising.

Fifteen Retirement Surprises

The fifteen biggest surprises of my retirement so far, in no particular order, are:

1. Email

Email has been my biggest retirement surprise. Before I retired, I did not appreciate the impact and hold email had on me. I touched on the email issue in “Can you go on holiday (vacation) when you are retired?” but it wasn’t until I retired that the full story emerged.

My job was heavy on emails. A quiet day involved 10–20 emails; a busy day could be 100 plus, and these were emails that needed actioning in some way. They were not the dreaded FYI — a species of email I detested.

Since I retired, I am no longer on the work email lists and have shut down all my work-related subscriptions. I still have subscriptions to lists that interest me.