At 53, I’ve started letting my hair go grey (read ‘The Great Uncoloring’), taken up crochet, signed up for AARP, and regularly check real estate listings for 55 and over residences.
Too soon you say?
There are those who will fight the onset of their golden years tooth and finely-polished-nail, and there are those of us who will usher in their ‘winding down era’ with open arms and dinner on the table well before 6pm.
Why should we have to wait until retirement to enjoy the upsides of getting older?
The Great Dinner Time Liberation
I was standing in the grocery store checkout line at 4:30 PM with a warm rotisserie chicken and a bag of pre-made salad when the twenty-something cashier looked at my haul and said, “Early dinner tonight?”
Nope. Right on time.
The “early bird special” jokes can kiss my grits. You know what’s special about eating early? Having energy to digest your food. Not falling asleep on the couch at 9 PM because you just finished a heavy meal. Actually tasting what you’re eating instead of shoveling it down while simultaneously washing the dishes.
Plus, extra time for post-dinner, pre-bedtime snackity snacks.
Other Retirement Perks I’m Trying Out Early
Midday Yoga Classes
Working from home has made of lot of pre-retirement benefits possible, like joining a 10:00 am yoga class. Yes, it’s mostly grey-hairs in the class, but you’d be surprised how being the youngest doesn’t necessarily mean being the strongest or even the most limber. I love the relaxed vibe and the focus on stretching and subtle strength building. I’m well past my Handstand Scropion days.
Watching The Morning Talkies
I was on a Good Morning America kick for a while, but lately I’ve been mixing it up with CBS Mornings, Today show, and sometimes The View if I’m feeling spicy. I gave Kelly Ripa a shot when Ryan Seacrest was her co-host, but left that the same day he did. These shows give me great content for the post-yoga yakathons.
Doing Nothing
I don’t mean scrolling through your phone (that’s not nothing, that’s digital masochism). I mean sitting on your porch with coffee and actually watching the world wake up. Or taking a shower without rushing to get to the next thing on your list. To me, this is the definition of rich — being able to afford to waste time. Some fear they will get bored in retirement, I’m proving to myself that will not be a problem.
Going to Bed at 9:30 PM
Remember when staying up late was a sign of being fun and spontaneous? Now I realize getting eight hours of sleep is the most rebellious thing I can do in a culture that glorifies exhaustion. A fun side-effect of this is waking up old-people-early, something I never thought I’d enjoy.
The Art of Strategic Slowing Down
You’ve worked hard to get to fifty and you never know how much time will be left once you do actually retire. Your fifties are the perfect time to start taste-testing the retirement lifestyle without waiting for the official paperwork. You’ve earned it, frankly.
Retirement isn’t just about having money saved up (though that’s pretty important too so check out ‘Financial Independence After 50: An Old Maid’s Guide to Securing Your Future’). It’s about learning how to live at a different pace. If you wait until you get your gold watch to figure that out, you’re going to spend the first two years of retirement wondering what the hell to do with yourself.
You wouldn’t run a marathon without training, right? So why would you jump into retirement without practicing how to live slower, more intentionally?
Start small. What retirement perk are you ready to practice?
