Reply to Made a bad decision about going back to work and regretting it.

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "Made a bad decision about going back to work and regretting it."

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. I welcome all the advice and admonishment that has been given to me in this thread. Every poster is representing a point of view that is coming from their own experience in life, so I have not taken anything personally but tried to see if their suggestions or viewpoint will work for me with some adjustments.  This brainstorming has helped me a lot. I am certainly not continuing to be in the status quo, and some things are in the process of being changed.

IRL - I was given a good advice from my BFF today who is a very sage WOHM.  I need to take advice from someone whose life circumstances mimic my own more closely. I probably need to poll people who have taken early retirement in our income bracket; have HS/college kids who are still studying and elderly parents or familial obligations;  are married or in a relationship;  have socially-conscious causes and passions, and see how they are keeping active, busy, educated and relevant.

[/quote]

How old are you, Op?  What do you consider to be early retirement?  Obviously there is going to be a difference between retiring at 45 vs 55 vs 60.  As far as what I've seen young(ish) retirees doing to stay busy - they take over 55 classes at our nearby college, they join gyms, play golf, go RVing, travel, help out with grandchildren, do projects around their homes, garden, do animal rescue work/foster and other volunteering.  Honestly, the choices are endless.  You can absolutely stay busy even if you don't have kids at home.  If you do have HS/College kids then you are still actively parenting them - not in the same hands on way that you did when they were younger but you are keeping tabs on them, talking to them about any problems they may have and spending time with them.  If you have elderly parents, you are visiting them regularly and you have to be ready to be there for them when they need you.  I don't think you have to work to stay busy, active and engaged.

Think back to when your kids first started to go to school full day.  Do you remember how you thought you would have a ton of extra time to do all sorts of things and you wondered if you would be bored/lonely and how you would fill your day w/o the kids at home?  Then when the kids actually started going to school you found yourself incredibly busy - long deferred household projects that needed done, volunteering at the school and activities, fund raisers, helping the kids with homework, household chores, errands, pet care, exercise, friends, snow days, sick days, summer vacation, holidays, doctors appts, dental and orthodontics....maybe you spent time with your aging parents.  When you heard that question "What do you DO all day?" you think to yourself "Well, when I get a chance I'll sit down and list it out.  But right now I'm way to busy to do that!"

Now you are looking at your youngest leaving the nest to go away to college soon...and your back to wondering how on earth you're going to spend your day.  Will you bored and lonely without any kids at home?  What on earth are you going to do with yourself?  Answer: Just like you filled your time when the kids were at home/in school, you will fill your days once they are away at college.  Busy, engaged people tend to stay busy, engaged, and yes - relevant.  I think you are struggling with transitioning from SAHM to housewife.  You didn't quit working to become a housewife.  Therefore, it must be time to go back to work, right?  Well, as you've found out, maybe going back to work does not make you feel more "relevant".  Maybe it's better to continue to put your energy into your home, your family, your friends and your community through volunteer work.  Maybe having an empty nest isn't going to be as drastic as a change as you thought it might be.  Only time will tell.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics