Retirement is not about optimisation. It's about avoiding the downward slopes

You know my standard phrase: Work hard, exercise, eat right, don't drink too much, pay your damn taxes, and only spend money on things you need and can afford.

That's for people with jobs. (Employment Privilege?)

What about those of us who no longer go to work?

What replaces the "work hard" bit?

Some people find a different job, or volunteer, but that doesn't replace "working hard". That replaces "go to the office".

I'm sure some people who have grandchildren would tell me that "see more of your grandkids" is an answer, and I'd agree it's part of the answer. For them.

I think there are two questions here:

What replaces "leaving home every day for the workplace / waking up and pulling the laptop onto your lap"?

and

What replaces "meetings / e-mails / Powerpoints / spreadsheets / client lunches / (enter other work dross here)"?

To the first question: there is a benefit to leaving the house for a few hours a few days each week. When the weather is acceptable. That does not mean turning into Diamond Geezer, and riding the buses and trains all day.

To the second question: my (first) thought is that nothing needs to - unless you will go crazy if you're not busy.

I read. I will get back to watching movies and box sets, but only when what I see on the screen is something like what I see outside. (Ever notice that nobody wears masks in those old movies. What was that about?) I have intentions of learning to read music on the piano, but every time I try to play both lines of a simple piece, something goes in my head, like my brain is trying to use connections that aren't there. There's always maths and a higher standard of housework. Also gardening. It's too damn cold and rainy right now, but I do need to do some maintenance gardening.

None of that counts as 'busy'.

'Busy' would be making random trips round London, under the guise of 'doing photography'. Or joining yoga classes. Or volunteering. Or going round every art gallery in the country. Or some other random project. 'Busy' means doing stuff you wouldn't do if you had anything better to do. (I still want to take photographs, and I'm starting to figure out what the blocker is. It's not what you might think, but that's for another day.)

Sometimes it helps to look at an alternative. I could stay in bed all day, order in pizza, move the TV into my bedroom, watch The Sopranos from start to finish and not take a shower for month. As long as I avoid that kind of non-activity (allowed only for a really bad cold) anything else is okay.

Retirement is not about optimisation. It's about avoiding the downward slopes.