LIFE!? How has yours progressed?

[HawkinsHollow]

I have been meaning to post this for a while but I was spurred on by a comment Eddie made in the Barn with Lean to post on Monday. He said, "But now that I'm 60 years old, I've sort of lost interest in traveling and really prefer to spend my time on the farm, working on projects and making everything nicer."

That struck a cord with me. I spent my younger years 18-45 chasing adventures all over the globe. Whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, climbing mountains, skiing and snow boarding. Both in the US and travelling to developing countries on a shoestring budget to stretch my dollars to play longer. I lived for this adventure, it fueled my soul. Last 3 or 4 years (I'm 51 yo) I have settled WAY down and honestly am VERY content being home, working in the shop or out on the property on projects. For the last year I have been doing a quite extensive renovation of our existing home and adding an 850 sqft addition. I am 100% content piddling away at finishing this project everyday, either on the weekends or after work. No desire to get out mountain biking or go kayaking. Don't really care to go to the brewery with freinds to get a beer. I do need to get to the gym more though!!! My question is; is this a normal as you age?

I have never been a good saver/investor. I feel like part of this new mindset stems from the fact that I see retirement looming. We are doing ok, but not amazing preparing for retirement. Because of that I feel like if I grind and work hard for the next 10-15 years I will be in a much better place. That has now taken precedence to hanging out with friends or playing on weekends. Tell me about how your life progressed as you aged. LOTS of collective knowledge about LIFE here. Share what you can. Thanks!

 

[dodge man]

I retired at age 58 five years ago. We always traveled a lot but we are now taking more expensive vacations, such as Ireland and Switzerland. I’ve never been into extreme sports and we were pretty conservative financially. We are pretty much home bodies when we can be. My son lives 10 minutes away but my daughter 3 hours away so traveling to see her eats up some time.

I think it’s normal as you get older to not want to travel. I see it in my sister who is older and saw it in my parents as they got older.

 

[Eagle1]

I traveled for 23 year on the job and burned out. Walked away and bought a campground. Now retired, closed the business and homestead the place. My dream place in a lot of ways. I may go months without going any place at all. Nothing better than puttering around, hunting or even do some fishing with out the people drama.

 

[RjCorazza]

I retired 12 years ago, and am now 63. I was never much of a traveling type, and preferred to stay close to home. What I do find as I get older, is that I am much more patient in general.

 

[dodge man]

I would strongly agree on being more patient as I grow older. It’s a good habit to get at a younger age along with being less angry.

I took our car in for a recall and they scratched the door pretty bad. There was a time I would have been pretty upset. They offered to repaint the door and I said that’s all I can ask for. It’s in the shop now, we’ll see how that goes.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I've never been much interested in traveling, but that's me...Things can be different for person to person but there is something to be said about having the opportunity to look back and visually see what you have accomplish and spend your money on, that is super rewarding and addicting... For me purchasing my property has been a game changer to the point I ask myself what I was doing before I purchased it. Now all I want to do is go there and work and that's all I am doing. My drive is long enough to get to work and back plus my time off seem to get shorter and shorter and traveling makes it feel even shorter so I rather stay at the property with my dogs.

 

[QRTRHRS]

While there are places that I have never seen but would like to, I doubt that I ever will. Our driving mostly consists of going to doctor visits, maybe lunch and some shopping. Else, I would just as soon be doing something at home. I have a gym of sorts set up in my garage so I don't need to drive for that. We are down to two horses, both 24 years old so they need daily care plus one dog and three cats. Unless I have a project going on that needs my full attention, I just kind of ease into the day. I might notice a tree that needs attention while mowing grass. So, I will finish the mowing then get the chain saw out. I might be putting up some tools then decide that it is a good day to straighten up my shop or put together a load for the flea market. I may only set up at the market once or twice a year but I enjoy chatting with others while selling some things that I no longer need. Having spent a lot of time on the road driving, I have long since gotten away from hanging out. Nor do I enjoy driving these days (see the tail gating thread).

 

[old and tired]

I did everything I wanted to, skied every mountain in US and most in Canada, Hot air balloons, ski dived, all the water sports... traveled all of US (except Rhode Island)... the good thing is I saved in 401k (wife made me do it) lucky for me, she saved even more. We never splurged on travel, backpacking tents are fine, as well as cheap hotels. Never bought boats, or other man toys - almost everything I bought in life was used (except the tractor!!).

Retired 2.5 years ago and could have/should have retired earlier. My wife retired 7 years ago and still likes to travel. I'm fine with taking care of the dog and hanging around the houses.

Yes, "worlds" get smaller as the years go on...

 

[MossRoad]

Really, not much has changed for us over the past 46 years. We dated for 6 years before we got married and it was another 7 until our first child, so we had plenty of time to do, how shall I put it, young adult stuff!

Once the kids arrived, we did more family oriented things, lots of parks, playgrounds, walks in the woods, museums, zoos, fishing, hiking, etc... As kids grow, you get more into their school, sports and social life. We gained a large group of parent friends through our kids and still hang out with them today.

We managed to take two small 1 week vacations one year, then one big 2 week vacation the next. We alternated that for the next 30 years. Still do it. Still plan on doing it after we retire in about 18 months. Plus visit the kids more and do a lot of volunteer work.

We've always taken day trips out of town about every other weekend. Now that the kids are gone, we're doing more of that, and just last weekend we discussed leaving an overnight bag in the car with a change of clothes in case we decide to stay somewhere. We have cats, so we could be gone a week and they wouldn't notice. We visit parks and museums. Go out with friends. Hit the flea markets and antique stores. Visit with family. And of course, work around the house and property. We just expect to do more of that and less work that pays money in the future.

We really don't expect any big changes other than we can sleep in if we want to.

 

[jyoutz]

I’m 65, and planned to retire 2 years ago. Then my wife was diagnosed with a terminal condition, so I kept working partly to pay for her care and partly to avoid being homebound. She passed last spring and I kept working to have a stable focus in life. I have traveled a lot domestically for work, but only a bit for family fun. I would like to retire and do some international and domestic leisure travel, but it’s no fun alone. I have a girlfriend now, so we’ll see what the future brings. We did book a Mexican cruise next spring.