Retirement Depression
by John A.
Oh Lordy, is this one of the things I have to look forward to in my early retirement in years to come? I retired in 2009 after 30 years in corporate American and after just a few months I became depressed. The hustle and bustle of the work place and my colleagues were missed, I lacked a sense of purpose and felt my identity gone.
Now it's 2012 and I still feel the same way I did nearly three years ago. To compound the problem, the economy has taken its toll on my savings and I constantly worry about having enough money at the end of the month. The bills are being paid and there's no problem there....yet. But, I don't have enough to get out and do some of the things I'd like to do.
At 60 years of age, I feel there's still a lot of fire in the furnace and think I could be a great asset to any organization who is looking for someone to fill a position. But, age and gray hair count against me and employers don't want to pay for a seasoned professional who they think may want the high salary once had before retirement. Heck, if they'd offer a job paying just enough to help make ends meet and give me a little peace of mind, I'd be happy with that. That hasn't happened and helps promote the depression I experience.
One of these days I hope to get to the point where others are and be content with retirement. I think I'm still far from that line of thinking and struggle with my decision to retire.
I do volunteering for two different agencies to stay busy. But, I view that activity as "peeing in your pants". It give me a warm feeling for a short while and then wears off very quickly.
Perhaps when I start to collect social security the financial concerns may ease up some and can begin to enjoy life; provided social security is still around in two years and to government doesn't screw things up more.....yeah right.
Well, that's my $0.0000000000000000002 worth of thoughts and opinion.
