Retirement – what’s it really like?

Thank you footflaps, yes I have generalised anxiety disorder so I stress about almost everything. Combined with boredom and general depression it’s absolutely horrible.

Have you thought about treatment eg SSRIs?

Yes I’ve tried Sertraline and Fluoxetine and both had a nasty effect on my brain so I gave up on both after a few days. Just waiting to chat with my GP now and going to ask what she thinks of St John’s Wort as a less nasty alternative.

The sleepless nights are pretty grim and mornings ghastly, then the mood improves towards evening. My wife is rightfully sick of it and wants me to get sorted out.

I take Citalopram everyday for anxiety, works for me, but everyone is different and there’s a lot of trial and error with SSRIs.

The sleepless nights are pretty grim and mornings ghastly

Yep, I can remember those, I could barely make a cup of tea in the mornings.

If I asked Madame to live 30 miles from anywhere in Scotland she wouldn’t be impressed. If I insisisted I’m pretty sure her answer would be divorce papers. ;)

I’ve added a smiley but I can’t help wonderering how your lady spends her days. I’m absoutely certain mine would be unhappy and that would rub off on me. People need people.

You assume it wasn’t his wife’s idea?

I don’t assume anything, I’m just adding a coment that may or not be appropriate or of use with a smiley because the first part was in jest. The second part wasn’t in jest, I genuinely wonder how Ms G relly feels about all this because she’s “sick of it” and any solution needs to be one that makes her happy if ever Mr G is to be happy.

I did think of adding more but this is for M. and Ms. G to work out with what M. G no doubt expects to be well-intentioned and sometimes light-hearted replies on STW. That’s what I’ve done, nothing sinister Mr Stealth Moderator Scotsroutes.

on current predictions, my pension at sixty will be twice the council tax bill.

says as much about my pension as the council tax

Globalti – I really feel for your situation but please hang in there. Things will get better I am sure of it. There will be brighter days and the sun will shine again. Just knock off small goals and tasks each day, little by little the ship will start to turn. It has to.

Take care.

Thanks. To stick with the theme of the thread, anybody contemplating retirement and a move ought to carry out a thorough and honest review of their own mental health and ability to handle the events.

Gti, would you get anywhere near your money back if you cut your losses and sold it now, as it is?

That would finish my wife off. It could take months to sell especially unfinished, so we have to finish it and move in.

Globalti- I found mirtazapine to be fantastic. I slept immediately the first time I took it and did so every night for the year or so I took it. It takes time to come off but I cut tablets in half and had no issues.

Good luck. Funnily enough it was a house project that took me over the edge. It was way harder and more stressful than I expected. But getting sleep really helped me turn things around

Good luck Globalti.

ive been up since 3am.   A frankly ridiculous sales meeting happened yesterday within which several people fettling in my accounts, being told to close deals brought into my numbers whose contracts don’t end until 2021, yet more legal and company disruption to challenge the ability to do that and other ignorant practises were bestowed upon me.

Ive never felt less like going to work in the last 20 years than I do this morning.  For sure wfh, isolation and “2020” etc is likely affecting me also, but I’d really like to be somewhere else right now.

in a poxy little bungalow with mice in the attic.

That’s a good description of where I live except it’s rats in the outhouse. Madame went through a wanting to live in the country phase before junior came along. She took me to view a place and I said “I don’t want to spend a weekend here let alone the rest of my life”. Now junior has gone we don’t need to live near good schools etc. and before long Madame won’t need to live within walking distance of her job, but I like my poxy urban bungalow and if ever I move out I hope it’s in a herse.

She’s been looking again recently as she’s got back into horses, however, she fell off a couple of weeks back which has reduced the pressure. I’m happy riding but allergic to them along with lots of other things that make living in the countryside unpleasant. I’ll resist.

Having got as far as you have I think I’d finish the house and try the lifestyle it offers. It’s only a part of the problem, the other one being adapting to retirement.

Good luck. Funnily enough it was a house project that took me over the edge. It was way harder and more stressful than I expected. But getting sleep really helped me turn things around.

This might not be a lighthearted thread but I actually thought you’d written

But getting sheep really helped me turn things around.

and pictured globalti wandering around his estate with a collie..