The first day....where's the micro kitchen?


I think anyone planning on retiring should cut themselves some slack for not meeting whatever goals you set for the first day of permanent day camp. You really cannot prepare for that first day of not working. If you were dumb enough to not have a long ramp-down ( I was) , that first day is sort of like hitting a brick wall at 100MPH. In my case, I had planned to sleep late, have coffee in the backyard and read the Washington Post AND #failing nyt from end to end. And then spend the day at our tennis club, lounging by the pool (I had given up on hiking since it was really hot). Reality #1: I woke up my normal time of 5:40AM, but at least I realized that I did not have to get ready to leave for the Google bus. Reality #2: I did have coffee and read one of the papers, but kept looking at my gmail account and hangouts, hoping for contact from the real world.

I did eventually get out of my stupor, and went for a long walk (4 miles) to ponder my fate. That's me below pondering.



Along the way, a friend from work did open up a chat, probably to make sure I had not thrown myself off a bridge (I was not really considering that). That did help pull me out of my funk. Eventually, I started doing some of the things I had planned on, mostly house related, but also managed to start this blog, spend time planning trips with my wife, and then work out at the club. Another friend also contacted me, and decided that I needed to go into rehab - maybe they have a clinic for retired tech workers, where you can sit in conference rooms with white boards, and talk about things you worked on. Maybe add a few annoying ex-managers who can rate your performance. I have already been told that I Need Improvement on retirement. Perf and calibration after leaving Google? Who knew?

I think the lessons learned are that you cannot just shrug off a job that you loved most of the time (Google), and a career that spanned many decades. Even if you find it controlling and all consuming, there is a direction in your life that you cannot discard when you wake up the first morning. There are also the little things like constantly checking your phone, not having a work laptop where there is always something to keep you busy (Memegen), attending endless meetings, chat with friends. There really is a huge void in your life. I’m still checking to make sure my badge is attached to my belt.

I’m quite certain that I’ll find direction quickly - everyone else does. I’ve already bonded with my IPad Pro. That’s a good start.

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