Writing My Own Script

Retirement, reinvention, and figuring out what comes next

When I retired in March, it wasn’t a leap so much as the final click in a long chain of decisions. I had spreadsheets, milestones, payoff dates, contribution targets—the whole orderly march toward freedom. After years of rising stress in my fifties, the plan became its own kind of lifeline. Being a banker, I naturally obsessed over the money, but I also inhaled every bit of lifestyle advice about how to “prepare” for retirement. By the time I hit 60, I thought I knew exactly what life on the other side would look like.

So I turned in my badge, said my farewells, and stepped into retirement ready for slow mornings, no traffic, and the promise of travel and unhurried hobbies.

Fast-forward to November. Slow mornings absolutely hold up. Since March I’ve been on five cruises (a little over the top, sure), picked up golf again, and basically treated 2025 as a well-earned victory lap. All planned, all enjoyable, and honestly—necessary. After years of watching burnout become the default setting for people my age, it felt good to claim a year that was mine.

But as the holidays approach, something quieter is taking shape: the understanding that the celebration phase is finite, and the real work of retirement is about to begin. Not “work” in the punch-a-clock sense, but the daily choices that keep this stage of life intentional rather than accidental.

Nine months in, I’m not bored. I like the slower rhythm, and I have more projects than hours. Yet I can see how easy it would be to slide into familiar ruts—too much screen time, eating whatever’s convenient, letting days blur simply because no one is expecting anything of me. Without a big trip or shiny event, the autopilot habits start creeping in.

So the challenge now is to build enough structure to feel awake and engaged, without strangling the freedom I’ve worked so hard to earn. It’s a balancing act, but a good one: crafting a life that isn’t just pleasant, but deliberate. Retirement didn’t end the need for intention—it made it non-negotiable. I’ll be writing more as I figure out what a deliberate life actually looks like in practice.