Personal Finance

What is retirement like? Is it as boring as some people say, or can one find fulfilling activities to fill their time with?

David Beren

Published: January 23, 2025 1:47 pm

When you think about retirement, it goes without saying that most people have their very own unique vision about how it will go. For some, it’s shuffleboard or golf all day, while others might think it’s all about traveling the world and exploring different countries all year long. 

The reality is that retirement is pretty much what you make of it, and whether or not it’s boring is entirely up to the individual. This is the exact question one individual is trying to clarify in a recent Quora thread, as they wonder if retirement is as dull as people say or if it’s easy to fill your time. 

No More Bosses

First and foremost, one response in this Quora thread highlights the best aspect of retirement, which is that you don’t have a boss to answer to anymore. The only boss you have now is yourself, as you are the “CEO” of your own life. 

Instead of dreading Monday morning and all of the unread emails you didn’t get to before logging off the previous Friday, you now can enjoy your life celebrating that it’s entirely up to you to set a schedule. Honestly, I’d rather be bored than worry about tackling my inbox every morning. 

Vary Your Days

This said, according to this poster, the first way to avoid boredom is to keep your schedule varied and not do the same activities every day. There is no question that this makes a lot of sense, as a repetitive schedule could be exactly what does lead to boredom, even if it’s an activity you love. 

Finding A New Identity

A very raw response in one of the Quora replies struck a chord with me and I believe for good reason. For many people, our work is our identity. One of the worst things you can do is let this carry over into your retirement, as retiring all but eliminates this identity’s reason to exist. 

In other words, you no longer have to contend with “timelines, schedules, and deadlines,” so you must make your own way. This might lead you to be bored initially, as you don’t know how to make your own schedule anymore as you’re so used to relying on an Outlook calendar. 

However, the reality is that you’ll find your way into things and activities you enjoy. Whether it’s working on cars, gardening, photography, or anything similar, the most important way this individual believes not to be bored during retirement is to not think of you and your profession as the same person. 

Retirement Is Freedom

One of the more overwhelming themes in the Quora thread is that you are responsible for ensuring you don’t get bored. It’s important to remember that retirement is freedom and that you can schedule your day any way you see fit. You don’t have to compete with anyone for a promotion or even to take a day off. 

The bottom line is that you shouldn’t be any more bored during retirement than you are while working. It’s all about being free to fill your day with whatever you want even if this freedom is just sitting around and watching Jeopardy! re-runs as it’s still something to do and a way to enjoy your day without anyone telling you you cannot do this. 

Overall Retirement Guidance

As someone who knows I have at least 20 more years ahead of me for full-time work before I will even contemplate retiring, I love the idea of being bored all day, at least in theory. The reality is I know I would go crazy sitting around doing nothing, so, like so many others in this Quora thread, I agree entirely that it would be up to me to find things to do. 

This is the crux of the whole matter in that retirement is only boring if you allow it to be. You won’t be bored if you keep yourself busy, active, and enjoying the opportunities you now have available with a completely different schedule than you had previously. 

I don’t think there is any question you can find fulfilling activities to occupy yourself. In fact, I would be more concerned if you couldn’t find activities out of the thousands of potential hobbies you can pursue. You don’t even have to create a schedule. You just have to want to get up and do something, even if that something is nothing every now and again.