The Joys of Being Retired

Several months ago, I wrote that one of my simple pleasures in retirement is having the freedom to run errands at noon on a Tuesday, with little traffic, lots of parking and ’60s music playing on the car radio (see “Living in Retirement,” Dec. 2019). That prompted an e-mail from reader Bob Swahlen, who also experiences “the joy of having freedom and time,” with one exception: “I find Bo Diddley to be a good companion on the ’50s channel.”

- Janet Bodnar

Musical preferences aside, enjoying more freedom and time is a common theme running through reader responses to the question I asked about your greatest pleasures (or disappointments) in retirement. Having time on your hands takes some getting used to. But after making the transition, readers wax eloquent about their new circumstances.

For example, writes Louis Pinneri, “I describe this blissful state as a freedom from three stresses: the stress of work, the stress of commuting and the stress of squeezing everything into a Saturday and Sunday.”

For many of you, flexibility means having time to relax and enjoy yourselves. “It’s much easier and more cost-efficient to schedule vacation time,” writes Bob Whitney. “And if the airline has overbooked a flight and is offering a perk for volunteers who take another flight, why not?”