Darka wrote:I think a gym is a great idea, I definitely want to spend more time on fitness and strength.
Highly recommended. I'd never set foot in one before retiring, and now I'm there five days a week, sometimes more. It's very much my 'go-to' activity these days. The initial plan was yoga and swimming, but it turns out these are the gateway drugs to weight lifting, HIIT, cycling, and so on. Never especially
unfit, but I'm fitter now than I've ever been.
A particular benefit is that this is not goal-oriented activity. Rather, it is open-ended; you can never be
too fit! It can also be very sociable, particularly if you use the organised studio classes. At work, I'd spend most of my time alongside people with backgrounds like mine; deep, but narrow. These days, I meet a far wider cross-section of folk, with a shared interest.
One other suggestion. Spend the next couple of months designing your retirement. I found it best to aim for a mindset of retiring
to something, rather than
from something. Ideally, most of what you spend time on wants to be (as above) open-ended. No harm in having
some goals, but these have two potential problems: the feeling of failure if you miss one; and what to do next if you reach one!