10 years ago today, I went to work not knowing it would be my last day on the job. I was looking forward to my vacation which was starting the next day. That next day, Saturday, I loaded up my truck with my personal pontoon to join my fishing club for an outing. At the event, I reached into the back of the truck to pull out my gear and felt an excruciating pain in my back. A disc in my lower back burst which had me in surgery a couple weeks later. Turns out that that club event was the first day of my retirement. I can’t figure out where 10 years went. Aside from some discomfort that still lingers to this day, this has been the best 10 years of my life.

Glad you transitioned so well albeit due to an injury. It’s been 7 years for me and the transition has not been that easy. I’ve been working since I was 13 years old and I’m 69 now. Strong Work ethic was engrained into my consciousness at a very young age. Resetting my brain hasn’t been easy. I’m still getting there, my wife on the other hand just retired from an Executive Director job she truly loved and her transition has been very painful. Her entire personality has changed and her frustration level is maxed out. I keep telling her to get another job if she’s not ready. In the meantime I have to put up with pictures and furniture moving weekly and house projects back to back. Hopefully, she’ll get there but I’m not holding my breath. 😂

Transitioning for me was easy. I’d had some sort of a job for close to 50 years before I retired at 61. I was a paper boy and a caddy before I worked my first job getting a real paycheck. I was tired of being told where to be and what to do on someone else’s schedule. I was a hard worker and used that work ethic to advance at every job I had. At my last job, that I did for 36 years, I saw that my hard work was only beneficial to the company and that the reward for that work didn’t get passed down to me. The boss kept getting his bonus, but our raises never came. I did benefit with a steady income and saved enough to be comfortable during retirement. But I haven’t missed working a job a single day in 10 years.

On 7/15/2026 at 9:53 AM, Scott F said:

At my last job, that I did for 36 years

What did you do for those 36 years, can I ask?

I was a service manager for a large company that made equipment for restaurants.