I’ve just had an extended period of WFH. Whilst still employed my weeks turned into less and less contact with the office and small bursts of high impact back in the office for a week at a time. Strange situation but I made a plan of attack as soon as I knew I’d have some “time off”

a) I set out a riding plan. Places to visit, fitness regime/training regime, extended rides and routes. Got involved with my Club and started exploring and leading rides and that took a lot of my time up. Ticked loads of places off but I still have two to major routes to complete.. You should see my Garmin/Strava activities.. I have been a very lucky and busy Man.

b) Sailing: Been sometime since I’ve been proper sailing (done masses of windsurfing) but over the winter it was an excellent time to get back involved with my club (HISC) and reinvigorate my passion for all things wet. Backed up my First Aid/Senior Instructors/even perked my Yachtmaster ticket up again..

c) Garden.. Yup I know. I hate gardening.. But I needed to stretch out after riding so instead of sitting on the sofa I got out into the Garden and my it’s looking mighty fine now..

d) Looked around for a new job (just in case) Spent a lot of time with Agents, CV updated, applied for a few roles and attended a few interviews. Turned down all I applied for because I’m actually very happy where I am, but you never know what may happen and it’s your life etc.

So, my advice.. after a week and a half it’s too early to be lost with nothing to do.
Plan, scope out, impact on family life, set in flow, revise.
Keep up a loose track of your Plan and modify it to suit current desires and family needs but stick to something.
Job Hunting.. get going now.. CV update, contact Agents, apply for roles. You will be surprised at how long on boarding takes these days what with Hiring Managers/Holidays/Strategic build downtime/Budget wrangles and sign off/security checks etc. all invariably out of phase.. Believe me it’ll be 3 months before you get another job, start now and plan for a three month interim down time for yourself.
Budget. Don’t spend all you have, budget hard and keep an eye on spending. It’s easy to see a lump of money in the Bank and think “I’ll just buy that/this/whatever” and before you blink you’ll have overspent and reduce that “window” down quite considerably. Once you get another job by all means spend the lot, in the interim keep a keen eye on it.. Don’t be influenced by family treats.

Boring stuff this since the suns out and in all reality not sure why you are asking the question when you should be on your bike off somewhere.

HTH

Sounds familiar. I took early retirement 6 1/2 years ago and soon found myself looking for something “meaningful” to do. It probably didn’t help that it was winter (dark, cold, wet). TBH, if I manage my money I don’t actually have to work at all. I looked for a few roles in the voluntary sector but that was going nowhere fast. A friend took pity on me and offered me a few hours working on his bike shops website (I’m ex-IT). That turned into a more standard bike shop role and opened up a whole new world to me. My current job is seasonal (summer) so I had a few months off over last winter but I’ll probably look for something in eh ski area later this year.

Some would say it’s sad, or shows lack of imagination. My daughter reckons I was good at my job but rubbish at being retired.

I’d suggest you do something similar. Try out a completely different job, even if it’s not for much money (though minimum wage does make you realise how many hours you need to work to afford a decent income). Bike shop isn’t a bad call if you are always buying stuff as staff discounts can be attractive. I’m sure the same applies if there are other hobbies you are into and want to find out a wee bit more about how that business ticks.

Hi flanagaj,

I speak from experience of being in your position myself, then changing career. Also for the last 12 years I’ve worked as a training and career consultant helping people in your position. Some great comments on here …what a supportive group they are.

Firstly, you are obviously still in “I should be doing something mode”, due to working for so long. Before you can make big decisions such as “what career next”, I suggest you need to switch off. Give yourself a SET time to just relax. Eg. Allow 1 month/a fortnight before you make any plans or even require yourself to think about it. Reason is – you can make rash, anxiety driven decisions in your current state. By giving yourself a set time you are giving yourself permission to just let go.

It is during this period of “just relax” that good ideas will often come but don’t force it. I remember really feeling lost during this stage but I found I had to “let go” of the past before I could move forward, maybe you’re the same. I find many of my clients take a break with a new project – one man built a garage, another went on a long holiday, everyone’s different. If you need to be active ….do something practical/active, to let the mind switch off.

So many clients say they needed a “changeover” period. Even if redundancy was something a person secretly wanted to happen, it can be a shock to the system when it does.

So allow some space, even if it’s only a fortnight.

Good luck. Listen to your instincts they are usually right.

All the best Shel

Many thanks to everyone for their really interesting comments and suggestions. There is some great advice here and I am going to take some of the points on board.

I’ll post back in 6 months time with an update!

Thanks again.

Some would say it’s sad, or shows lack of imagination. My daughter reckons I was good at my job but rubbish at being retired.

They will be the people who utter that as they rush between home and work 😉