Well, for the first six months or so it was great.
I know the feeling. I was forced onto disability at 64. I had no intention of retiring and had just decided to continue my career on a consulting basis. I didn't like the company I was with and I had lots of contacts who wanted to hire me to write government proposals. I ran the numbers and found I could make a lot more money without putting up with the corporate nonsense. But nature took its toll and I had to stop work as I went through chemo. Despite all the negatives of my health, I was thrilled to not have to go to work. I kept busy cleaning out all the stored boxes in my house and doing light projects at my country place. Even with all the down effects of chemo, I could mow fields on my tractor and the place started looking like it did in the 60's.
But by year two I started thinking, hey this could go on a long time and I had better come up with something worthwhile to do. As my strength returned I spent more time at the farm, eventually doing a week there and a week in town. Because of that, volunteer work or anything requiring a regular schedule was impossible -- I just wasn't around on a consistent basis.
The next surprise was that, despite plenty of money and a solid plan to make it last, I was routinely hit with unusual expense. Roof replacement, window repair, plumbing stuff, car repairs, dental work, etc. -- nothing gigantic but constant. I kept thinking, well its only one thing, but it was one thing after another with no end in site. I'm not big on travel and my condition doesn't favor much travel anyway so I really had to seriously assess how I would spend the next ten or twenty years.
To some extent, the answer was forced on me -- I spend a lot of time just managing my life. When I'm in town, I spend the first two hours of my day dealing with insurance companies, doctors offices, tax issues, and all the other admin and paperwork that constantly trickles through my inbox and mailbox. Then there's a litany of doctors and specialists that I see during my days in town. At the farm, its easy to keep busy as I look to improve the fields with game crops, manage timber sales, and catch up on long deferred maintenance. Like a lot of people say, I don't know how I had time to work.
