Post-retirement non-digital life

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The NAS thread got me thinking: we might spend a lot (too much?) time online. So much is done on the computer now: work, booking holidays, researching stuff, shopping, reservations, even writing to friends.

What non-digital stuff do you do now, or plan to do in retirement?

I’m paricularly interested to hear from @JEPG since he seems to have made a determined effort to get rid of his computer.

Sometimes, I feel like I’ve accidentally ‘put myself into the matrix’ and waiting for Morpheus to wake me up.

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Attitudes to debt/leverage, am I being illogical?
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Fighting a flu, I spent a large part of my Sunday afternoon playing on a snes classic. That does not help :slight_smile: It’s been a long time though.

Reading analog books / content, enjoying outdoor as much as possible. If you’ve got a house / garden to take care of, that’s a full time job as well.

Throwing away the damn unsmartphone.

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Hiking, reading (paper books! :scream:), (team) sports, cooking, gardening, going out with friends, visiting museums/exhibits, …

I think one thing that might help, and would also probably give occasions for new relationships, is having a dog.

Edit: @PhilMongoose helping at animal refuges, taking care of grandchildren if any, do-it-yourself, … the list is infinite. I would say, go to a public library, go through the alleys and see what topics appeal to you (to then add into your life). There are plenty of hobby books about all sort of things (cars, planes, sports, sciences, hobbies, animals, origami, robotics, crochet, the most exquisite sorts of teas and what biscuits pair well with them… whatever you may think of, really).

If the question is more about getting rid of our dependency on digital life, I’d say building home habbits (no screens in bed, eating sitting at the table with no screen, etc.) helps. I’ve pondered going hard with a time switch on my internet, in order to cut it off at a said time in the evening.

Edit 2:

I think that’s a big part of the problem (that I have, at least). Too often, we don’t do things or do them in our usual way not by lack of knowledge but by lack of action. We expect an outside solution while actual improvement would mostly require working on ourselves and doing the thing.

As said, I’m very guilty of it and trying to do better.

Edit 3: On that last point, I do recommend the strangestloop essay about doing the thing (spoiler alert, planing to do the thing isn’t doing the thing - and watching Youtube videos about doing the thing isn’t it either). Read here by Chris Williamson:

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I am semi-retired now (who knows for how long) and am amazed at how busy I can be doing all sorts of stuff (planning vacations, admin, enhancements to the house, etc. and various things to make life easier for my wife who works full time). If I were fully retired:

  • Even more sports (1-2 mountain hikes a week)
  • I have a few (very niche) areas of collecting and I would love to either write a book about one specific topic (for the benefit of at most 100 other people in the world!) or make a very comprehensive catalogue of my collection for future generations as there is some real historical importance to parts of my collection
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Reading that led me to the YT comment:

Highest ROI of my life: getting a dog. I don’t have a garden. I live alone. No friends. No family. Lil puppo forced me outside. Forced me to walk. Forced me into sunlight, movement, routine, and responsibility. Forced gentle social contact with other humans. Forced me out of screens and into the present. I’ve lived with depression, anxiety, psychosis, schizophrenia.. the kind that makes you hide from the world just to survive. The unconditional love of a dog unlocked a version of life I genuinely didn’t believe existed. I went from chasing death… to chasing LIFE. She’s 3 years old now & because of her I have real friends, real connections, and the beginnings of family where none existed before. If you want a reason to live: take responsibility for life. For me, that started with a dog. She then taught me how to be responsible for my own life, and thus, I can be responsible for any. Thank you for taking the time to read

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I am anticipating (fingers crossed) such a change for me as well. Have lived and worked very hard. Chasing career, making $$$ and travelling to dangerous places in the world (either for mountaineering or for other planned/unplanned adrenaline rushses)… glad I did it, but my life took a turn moving to Switzerland, marrying my Swiss wife, losing my exec job AND… my wife is now pregnant. If all goes well, I’ll become a father in my early/mid 50’s and suspect it’ll be such an amazing experience to look forward to and further take some of the ‘edge’ off of me.

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Buy a sailboat, as simple as that

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If it floats, flies or f#$#s… is an old saying.

Sailing is not for everybody:)

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I have a GA. It sounds silly, but sometimes I just hop on a train and travel through Switzerland. Sometimes with a plan, sometimes without. It’s amazing how much is included with the GA.

Examples:

And the best part is that I pay for the GA annually. So mentally, it only hurts once, and then I get to enjoy the possibilities. I then look at cities or villages and sometimes walk from one train station to another. And when I’m bored, I listen to podcasts while I’m doing it.

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I am probably the person with longest history of post retirement here, did retire in 2014.

My tip: forget the digital life, do as much as you can while you still can! I did and I do not regret a single moment. I did travel a lot, ski, paraglide, motorbike, bicycle and a long swim every day. Also went out almost every night, I remember months in Spain where I did never go to sleep before sunrise.

Do it, because it doesn’t last forever. All the digital bullshit you probably can do forever, but the real things count. Poor kids of today who get robbed of the non-digital life.

A real poet, our construction worker:

And in english:
https://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69034

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I had a GA for a couple of years as I was commuting between ZH and BS. It is very handing and takes the mental load off train fare logistics.

Maybe it would be a good way to ‘force’ myself to get out more as I have a sunk cost of a train ticket. Although I guess it would be more expensive now as I would also need tickets for partner + kids. Although the Junior card makes the kids cheap.

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Should add one more thing - best thing I did is dedicate one room at home as a home gym

  • state of the art home trainer
  • rowing machine
  • rack
  • free weights

It’s so convenient and I do some exercise every single day now. Healthy and you feel a lot better. Especially once retired, no reason to not spend an hour a day on some sports.

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I don’t know, man.

Live shot of Goofy

I am too tired stretching my legs from today’s exploring the South West coast on La Palma.

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Also ate too much fresh fish and probably exposed myself to too much sun today.

Maybe I’ll have some ideas later this evening after a cold beer with some olives and jamón serrano …

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