Winding Down....

[Les Kern]

I was curious about whether there are any others going through the same issues as me.
Been in the tech biz pretty much continuously since my first Mac in 1985. Currently I am a Technology Director responsible for over 400 users and about 2,000 machines with a staff of 20. I've "made it" I suppose. I have all the latest gear, and even decided to build a kick-ass PC for games only. It's finished.
Meh.

And I am bored out of my mind.

And tired.

Tired of the technology and bored with new advances and new gadgets, tired of operating systems, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Windows 7, 8, updates, iPods, Bluetooth, Facebook, Netbooks, Readers, RAM upgrades, Battlefield 3, software development, pretty much anything Microsoft, and yes, even rumors. Nothing, and I mean nothing, excites me any more.

Now what?

It's a tad too early for retirement, but up ahead I see... death?

How do you handle this?
Is it simply a means to an end for you now?
Is there anything you do to make it interesting?

 

[Shrink]

I was curious about whether there are any others going through the same issues as me.
Been in the tech biz pretty much continuously since my first Mac in 1985. Currently I am a Technology Director responsible for over 400 users and about 2,000 machines with a staff of 20. I've "made it" I suppose. I have all the latest gear, and even decided to build a kick-ass PC for games only. It's finished.
Meh.

And I am bored out of my mind.

And tired.

Tired of the technology and bored with new advances and new gadgets, tired of operating systems, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Windows 7, 8, updates, iPods, Bluetooth, Facebook, Netbooks, Readers, RAM upgrades, Battlefield 3, software development, pretty much anything Microsoft, and yes, even rumors. Nothing, and I mean nothing, excites me any more.

Now what?

It's a tad too early for retirement, but up ahead I see... death?

How do you handle this?
Is it simply a means to an end for you now?
Is there anything you do to make it interesting?

One solution is to get yourself in my situation...unable to EVER retire!

Since death is closer than further for me...and inevitable for all (no one gets out alive), I accept the inevitability and get on with my life.

 

[maflynn]

I'm in a similar situation, where my retirement funds are such that its not feasible for me to retire at age 67, my hope is that my finances will set so I can work a low paying, low stressful job during my so call golden years.

The only wrinkle in this, is my daughters will be college age when I'm about to retire so the prospect of helping them out with college throws a major monkey wrench into those humble plans of mine.

 

[Shrink]

I'm in a similar situation, where my retirement funds are such that its not feasible for me to retire at age 67, my hope is that my finances will set so I can work a low paying, low stressful job during my so call golden years.

The only wrinkle in this, is my daughters will be college age when I'm about to retire so the prospect of helping them out with college throws a major monkey wrench into those humble plans of mine.

Whoever called it "the golden years" was probably 25 years old, and needs to be smacked upside the head.

"Golden" my aunt Fanny!

I really feel for your situation...college tuition is an incredible financial burden!

Good luck with your plans...I hope they work out for you...

 

[maflynn]

Thanks same with you.

Lord willing I'm hoping our house will be paid off by then and that should put the wife and I in a much better situation. My goal is to be as debt free as possible in the next 5 to 7 years, that will also help us as we get closer to 65.

 

[Happybunny]

I was curious about whether there are any others going through the same issues as me.
Been in the tech biz pretty much continuously since my first Mac in 1985. Currently I am a Technology Director responsible for over 400 users and about 2,000 machines with a staff of 20. I've "made it" I suppose. I have all the latest gear, and even decided to build a kick-ass PC for games only. It's finished.
Meh.

And I am bored out of my mind.

And tired.

Tired of the technology and bored with new advances and new gadgets, tired of operating systems, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Windows 7, 8, updates, iPods, Bluetooth, Facebook, Netbooks, Readers, RAM upgrades, Battlefield 3, software development, pretty much anything Microsoft, and yes, even rumors. Nothing, and I mean nothing, excites me any more.

Now what?

It's a tad too early for retirement, but up ahead I see... death?

How do you handle this?
Is it simply a means to an end for you now?
Is there anything you do to make it interesting?

I retired when I was 57 that was 10 years ago.

I took early retirement because I could, under Dutch law at the time there was the VUT. With a full pension final salary, and my states pension I now have 85% my last earnings after tax The VUT system was used to make places free for younger people to get work.
The house was all paid off long long before I was born, in 1860 or 1862 I think. My children had all grown up and got families of their own. I still had good health and many hobbies.
I have made a trust so my Grandchildren can study later on.
I traded in my Mercedes C class sedan for a Fiat 500 and a AC Cobra 427 cu (7.0 L) V8 from 1967. I go on lots of holidays, took in the arts by visiting the great museums/and cities all over Europe.
For example at the end of this month I will travel to Chicago and then drive to Seattle via Canada, the whole trip will take about 6 weeks.
I sail a small boat on many waterways here in the Netherlands.
I'm thinking about enrolling in a evening class to learn Russian, it's a language that has always fascinated me. I mean 32 letters.


As to what I did for excitement, I have been married 3 times so it's easy to see what I did when I got bored.

Death is not on my radar as I'm to busy living life.

 

[Shrink]

I retired when I was 57 that was 10 years ago.

I took early retirement because I could, under Dutch law at the time there was the VUT. With a full pension final salary, and my states pension I now have 85% my last earnings after tax The VUT system was used to make places free for younger people to get work.
The house was all paid off long long before I was born, in 1860 or 1862 I think. My children had all grown up and got families of their own. I still had good health and many hobbies.
I have made a trust so my Grandchildren can study later on.
I traded in my Mercedes C class sedan for a Fiat 500 and a AC Cobra 427 cu (7.0 L) V8 from 1967. I go on lots of holidays, took in the arts by visiting the great museums/and cities all over Europe.
For example at the end of this month I will travel to Chicago and then drive to Seattle via Canada, the whole trip will take about 6 weeks.
I sail a small boat on many waterways here in the Netherlands.
I'm thinking about enrolling in a evening class to learn Russian, it's a language that has always fascinated me. I mean 32 letters.


As to what I did for excitement, I have been married 3 times so it's easy to see what I did when I got bored.

Hey, you're some kind of bad boy!

And I'm so jealous, I could spit nails!

 

[Mac'nCheese]

I'm bored all the time.

 

[smithrh]

Back to the OP - so, you've burned out. This used to be a bigger topic a couple of decades ago, but probably one of the more important things to realize is that most people burn out at some point.

Without knowing you, it's hard to suggest any remedies beyond the vague "get a hobby" "do something new" "take some time off" lines of thinking.

One (also admittedly vague) line of thought is that you might think about life being a journey, and less about making it to a destination. The trouble with the destination thinking is that if you make it to your destination, you run out of goals and can wind up being disillusioned.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I retired when I was 57 that was 10 years ago.

I took early retirement because I could, under Dutch law at the time there was the VUT. With a full pension final salary, and my states pension I now have 85% my last earnings after tax The VUT system was used to make places free for younger people to get work.
The house was all paid off long long before I was born, in 1860 or 1862 I think. My children had all grown up and got families of their own. I still had good health and many hobbies.
I have made a trust so my Grandchildren can study later on.
I traded in my Mercedes C class sedan for a Fiat 500 and a AC Cobra 427 cu (7.0 L) V8 from 1967. I go on lots of holidays, took in the arts by visiting the great museums/and cities all over Europe.
For example at the end of this month I will travel to Chicago and then drive to Seattle via Canada, the whole trip will take about 6 weeks.
I sail a small boat on many waterways here in the Netherlands.
I'm thinking about enrolling in a evening class to learn Russian, it's a language that has always fascinated me. I mean 32 letters.


As to what I did for excitement, I have been married 3 times so it's easy to see what I did when I got bored.

Death is not on my radar as I'm to busy living life.

That is an absolutely terrific post; wonderful, life-affirming and quite possibly rather thought-provoking (in terms of political and economic choices made by societies and how these allow people to live their lives).

Hey, you're some kind of bad boy!

And I'm so jealous, I could spit nails!

Very good - spitting nails, now, that's an extremely interesting expression, one I haven't heard before.

I'm bored all the time.

Why, when there is so much to do, to see, to read, to visit, to explore, to think about.

To the OP: you sound as though you need a total break from what you have been doing for the past few decades - your post reads more like exhaustion and terminal burn-out than classic jaded palate boredom. You sound as though you need a complete change as much as a rest.

Take some time off, and relax - if you can - giving yourself time to think in stillness, and tranquillity, with the luxury of time in which to think. It is often in the quietness of an unexpected, (or much needed) break that we come to realisations about what we really want or need. Why else do so many people hand in their notice immediately after returning to work after, say, the Christmas break?

Good luck with it, whatever you decide to do.

 

[Les Kern]

Back to the OP - so, you've burned out. This used to be a bigger topic a couple of decades ago, but probably one of the more important things to realize is that most people burn out at some point.

Without knowing you, it's hard to suggest any remedies beyond the vague "get a hobby" "do something new" "take some time off" lines of thinking.

One (also admittedly vague) line of thought is that you might think about life being a journey, and less about making it to a destination. The trouble with the destination thinking is that if you make it to your destination, you run out of goals and can wind up being disillusioned.

This is what some of my friends say to me. For so long it was "means to an end" and I really didn't know what the "end" was. And sadly, becasue I was concentrating on that, all of the wondrous things available on the journey were ignored or maybe not even seen at all.
I think there is time for me to make the changes.

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I retired when I was 57 that was 10 years ago.

I took early retirement because I could, under Dutch law at the time there was the VUT. With a full pension final salary, and my states pension I now have 85% my last earnings after tax The VUT system was used to make places free for younger people to get work.......

Death is not on my radar as I'm to busy living life.

How wonderful you live in such a forward thinking country. I am lucky in that etirement is "doable" for me, but for most all Americans it just won't happen. Without getting political (please no!) lets just say it doesn't have to be that way.
The live you are living now is something you earned over time, and I am so very happy for you... and a little envious too!

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I'm in a similar situation, where my retirement funds are such that its not feasible for me to retire at age 67, my hope is that my finances will set so I can work a low paying, low stressful job during my so call golden years.

The only wrinkle in this, is my daughters will be college age when I'm about to retire so the prospect of helping them out with college throws a major monkey wrench into those humble plans of mine.

Crazy that parents in a lot of cases have to use their life's savings to send a child to a 4-year college.
I truly hope things work out for you.

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One solution is to get yourself in my situation...unable to EVER retire!

Since death is closer than further for me...and inevitable for all (no one gets out alive), I accept the inevitability and get on with my life.

I totally get that as I have many close friends up in age that will simply not be able to retire in the traditional sense, and some don't really care... they, as someone else here said, are enjoying the journey.
I wish I wasn't so damned broken.