I am feeling some apprehension about adjusting to retirement. Don't get me wrong,

[SheilaT]

4. My personal advice is that you must have a life outside of work.

If you don't, you won't have a clue what to do with yourself. So do other things besides your job.

Many years ago I tended to define myself by my job. Then I started doing some volunteer work (I became a docent at the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian) and boy, did I change. Two things happened. The first was that I understood I was NOT my job. I was a person who did that job. And then I went back to school, and remained in school for the next three decades, on and off. Wow.

Fast forward, somewhat, to my own retirement. I left work almost exactly two years ago, and this evening by lovely coincidence I ran into a former co-worker whom I had not seen since then. Her first comment was how happy I seemed. How nice was that.

I write, I travel, I hang out with friends. I've actually done a trivial amount of temp work, but since I hate getting up before about 10am, that's a bit tricky.

Anyway, it does sound as if you're thinking about it in a very good way, making the kind of changes you need to make. Good for you.