Six Saturdays and a Sunday!

This is my life now, all 7 days of it! With nothing but choices and no agenda.

I’m sure that I’ve read it and I was definitely aware somewhere deep in my brain, but nothing prepares you for the hard stop of existing your current career for a life of free time.

I’m two weeks into early retirement and I can tell you for sure that it can be a very, very unsettling place to navigate. There’s a profound sense of loss that will need to be unpacked which I think will take some time. Suddenly there’s no clock to keep track of, no meetings to attend, no questions, no business problems to solve, no sense of place.

For the last 10 years I have saved like a woman possessed to have enough to retire and in late November 2025 I finally decided that it was time to build something new. Where work was optional, and there was a moment of clarity that there must be more to more to life than working myself to death. So two weeks ago, after what felt like the longest notice period I finally signed out of my work email for the last time, handed over my role to the new staff and said goodbye to my team mates.

This moment of change of identity has been massive and even though I have been longing to create this space and live a life outside of the traditional working model… you know the one where we work til we retire at 67, take the government pension, convert our superannuation and march off into the sunset wearing white linen as we walk hand in hand on the beach.

Errrr no, it’s not like that at all. And certainly not when you retire earlier than most and your life partner is still working the nine to five. The silence…. oh! the silence.

There is so much talk about retirement when you’re 67, but not very much about those of us, especially women who retire earlier and fund our lives themselves. It’s either the crowd in their 30’s and 40’s who are deep in the FIRE movement or retirees in their late 60’s but not much in between. What about us, the fortunate few who have decided to retire into life , the one that we worked so hard for and gained back what are the best years of what we have to come ? So here I shall write and hope it helps others take the plunge and back themselves to walk away from the grind and walk Retire into their life. It was such an abstract to consider leaving my 9-5 job and now that I’ve actually done it, even more so.

I know that I’m incredibly fortunate to have enough for a modest life where time holds the greatest value and all of that time is mine. Where I can write, cook every day and find my creative voice in all things, that’s been smothered by a mind too busy to find a calm thought to save myself. Along with heading to the local coffee shop and settling in for a couple of hours surrounded by others and yet still in my own bubble. This my friend, is delicious!

It’s not lost on me that most of my peers aren’t in the same financial situation as I am and will continue to work in order to fund their life and/or fill their time. I’m grateful that I sat with mapping out a framework for future me all those years ago and here I sit in this moment trying to enjoy it for what it is. But there’s not many of us and certainly not in my circle, so I’m flying solo with the internet and my library of books to guide me. I did reach out to Rach Taylor back in December before I pulled the pin. She is a transition coach, mostly working with ex athletes ( certainly not me!… I snuck in the side door) and she’s given me a safe place to land for a while as I ’m navigating the big leap away from my career and into a yet undiscovered life.

What all my reading on the subject told me about the early days of retirement is how the unstructured days feel for want of a better word… untethered. This might actually be a good thing ( thought I’m yet to be convinced) knowing that this moment is exactly where I should be. There will be more doors that open for all sorts of opportunities down the track that will I will try out. Some might go nowhere and others might really light a fire but not just yet. It’s time right now, to be where I am, breathe and take it all in.

So I’m going to sit with it for a while, not rush into the next busy thing and take away from this VERY uncomfortable silence of what is now my life. Micah is still working and will be for a few more years, so it’s just me and the dog right now, clunking around in this big old house.

This is what I’m reading right now. THE RETIREMENT YOU DIDN’T SEE COMING by Dan Haylett ( I’ve re-read it probably 3 times over the last month or so-Note: I purchased it from the UK directly as it’s not available locally here in AUS) and YOU’VE GOT MONEY NOW WHAT by Dave Gow.

I’ve been listening to Dave Gow on his podcast STRONG MONEY and whilst he is a good 20 years younger than I, there’s still a lot I’ve learnt from him as I navigate this early retirement gig!