Getting Used to This Idea of Retirement

As my retirement in the summer of 2020 creeps closer, I keep hearing some recurring themes from people who have already/recently retired:

• You will get a lot of rest once you hang it up. Expect that your body will need the rest and then start to recover. You don't realize how fatigued you are.
• You will be surprised at how quickly you begin to forget all the multitudes of things you have to remember in your current job.
• Once all that information you no longer need to remember is gone from your head, you will feel like your brain has expanded. You will be able to use that space to remember other things.
• Take time immediately after retirement to do nothing or indulge in some recreation that, for you, will be relaxing. Once you have gotten that out of your system, you will be ready to move on to the next phase.
• The next phase will be getting some type of a job, volunteer opportunities, putting more time in your hobbies -- basically, some kind of anchor to everyday living. The important thing will be that you will control things here and be able to do as much or as little as you want.
• You will enjoy life so much more.

I have been working in my current job for almost 26 years and in my profession for almost 38. While I have enjoyed my career, it is time for the grind to end and for me to move on to other things before I croak ... or at least I hope so. I have know several men (including my father-in-law) who have either had debilitating illnesses or have passed away right when they should have been receiving the fruits of their labor. I hope this is not me. I have some medical issues and definitely need to lose a bunch of weight as I have ballooned out the older I get.

The plan for 2020, which might or might not work out on a  timeline my wife and I would like, would be for me to retire in July (this will definitely happen as I have already signed off on the paperwork for it), sell our house in central Illinois, and move to Scottsdale, AZ, where I have family and where my wife's best friend lives. My thought is that we would rent a place for a year and see how we like it. I was just reminded last night as snow came down how I have finally had enough of the cold weather the Midwest gets in the winter. I know that adjusting to the blazing heat of the Arizona summers will be a challenge, but having an abrupt change in my life will be good for me. I have never lived outside Illinois, spending basically the first third of my life in suburban Chicago and the last two thirds in central Illinois.

Of course (u see), being a poker addict, I would like to give Las Vegas a try. However, my wife has never been a fan of Sin City since she is not a gambler and has only been there a limited amount of times, mostly on or near the Strip. I've tried to tell her that t is much different when you get away from that area, but ...

So ... if everything goes well, before 2020 is over, I hope to be one of the regs at Talking Stick Resort and Casino, playing poker in my spare time and living a moderately paced life. Now if I can only make it through the next seven months ...

Thanks for reading!