Must have a Hobby

 

It is absolutely necessary for you to have a hobby or something else in mind for you to do, once you are retired.  My definition of being retired is not working any hours for compensation.

When I first became retired in 2015, I was still teaching classes at night for college students...  therefore, I did not consider myself retired.

Being a volunteer is not considered working for compensation, either is playing golf, or helping someone build a deck; but those activities are temporary and short lived, and not really a hobby.

Hobby Ideas

• Scrapbooking
• Beekeeping
• Blogging
• Reading
• Writing
• Gardening
• Woodworking
• Pottery
• Painting
• Making things

I maintain two blogs daily that occupy about two hours of my day.  I could double or triple that time by surfing the internet, getting ideas and material to put on my two blogs and maybe someday that is what I will do.

When my blogs are prepared, the rest of my day is spent writing novels, doing research for those novels, and researching ways to self-publish like on Amazon.

I lack 2-3 chapters of completing 13 novels during the nine and a half years of my retirement.  If I concentrate, I probably could finish another 4 that have been partially written, giving me 17 in ten years or 1.75 each year.  Again, if I hustle, I could probably have 20 completed novels in 11 years of retirement, almost two a year.

My novel writing is my hobby and so far I have not grown bored with it, although there was a time where I did not want to write anything for 6-9 months.  I am not sure if I was burned out or had written too much too quickly.  But now I am back on track and write each day when I feel like it which might be anywhere from 1-6 hours a day.

The rest of my day is spent on social media and watching TV Series and watch for how writers have put words in their mouths or directed their actions, and describe the situations unfold around them.

If my writing hobby dies then my focus will turn to painting, oils and acrylics more than likely, experimenting with colors and different types of brushes.

At my age, I doubt I will need a third hobby.