BORED !

I retired from the Police Force having worked shift sytems for 30 years,I was so looking forward to retiring and starting a new life in Spain.My wife has joined a choir and works one day a week in a charity shop which I am so pleased for her but me,I am bored to death.To the extent I dont feel like getting up some days I just want to stay in bed.I am not a lazy person but I have found myself in a rut.

Is there anyone else out there who has been the same? what have you done to overcome it?

I would be really interested to know.

Hi

Join a Social Club  or a U3A Group with  varied activities down on the Costa del Sol Coast near where you live. See websites for details.

http://costadelsol.angloinfo.com/af/245/costa-del-sol-clubs-and-associations.html

http://www.andalucia.com/entertainment/clubs/uni.htm

Play an occasional round of Golf with some friends in your area.

Good Luck

Regards

Thanks Nigel188 for your reply.

I had to laugh,I am actually a Chairman of a social club and I gave up golf when I was spending more time looking for the ball than hitting it ! However I will look into the other suggestions.

Many thanks.

You may be suffering from depression.

Sorry to hear that. It sounds like you need to find a new hobby that keeps you interested. You probably already knew that though. Cycling, walking, traveling around Spain there are so many. I took up cycling recently, don't know your age or your physical condition but I was in a real state. Took me a couple of months to get really going and now I can't stop. There are many cycling clubs with people of all ages and it a great way to get out for several hours on end and see teh country.

Spanish dragon:

After being busy in your profession for a number of years, you might be experirencing some depression. Go to your doctor.

On our side... I can offer you to help us with some editing work. We need an editor for our english texts!7

But I would initially go to doctor/psychologist.

Maria

Spanish Dragon, I just sent you a private message.

I think you've done a brave thing by admitting it to yourself and others. Bored and depressed are very similar phenomena - probably the same thing even a lot of the time. I know exactly how you feel. I lived in Spain for over 5 years and after keeping myself busy with building projects, the kids etc., when we finally had a lovely house I found I was bored stiff living in a village. It sounds like you might be in an area with more going on for Brits though, so that is a definite plus. I think you have to force yourself to get out now and take up some of the suggestions already made - walking is especially good - you'll get out, you'll wear yourself out a bit and it will be great to stave off depression.

In fact, I'm sure that most men who retire, whatever country they're in, go through something similar. Why not get a book about it off amazon? There's a book for everything these days (better than a pill).

At a personal level ( not professional). Anyone bored, please contact me as I have dozens of friends who will be up for skype spanish-english exchange. Evern if any of you wants to coordinate this service I can give names.

It should be a free exchange which can bring many benefits ( cultural understanding, language improving...) to many of you

Cheers

María
 

One other thought: I used to work in the airline game and have known a fair few coppers and paramedics for many years, and have always thought the groups were similar, in terms of living in a close-knit group/bubble, on shift work.  It makes moving into a non-shifts and in particular - unstructured - world difficult.

I manage in the healthcare sector, and initially, would suggest a counsellor rather than a psychologist.  Docs tend to push pills down your throat - ok for a quick fix, but not the long term.

Fot the most part though, I reckon the first paragraph is worth reflecting on.

Hang in there - there is light at the end of the tunnel based on many 2nd hand experiences, and it's not the light of the train heading for you! 

It's taken me 5 years of retirement to work out what it's all about. I was going to buy a narrow boat, but rheumatoid arthritis scotched that, I do a bit of target shooting but my main daily activity is walking my dogs in the Peak District National Park, I would love to do similar on the beach at Calahonda. You ex coppers generally throw yourselves into something challenging post retirement, I've known ex police who have become property developers and in one case a sheep farmer on a Scottish island croft, 

I bumped into the drummer from a 1960's top pop group in La Cala, he was having a hell of a job sorting himself out, he bought a boat but found out that he was scared of sailing it on the sea, luckily for him he found love with one of the Loose Women girls, rather him than me.

Keep at it, you'll sort it. 

Well,I am genuinly sorry that you sre bored,but

Trust me,do not join a social club,it will be full of ancient oxygen abusers who sit around whinging about the UK,and reading the Daily Moan (Mail).They will have names like Jeffrey ("call me Jeff")and Jean.who, will have permed hair and resemble Margaret Thatcher.

Likewise do not play golf (part of your problem I fear).As Tiger Woods says,"Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps".

I'd go with Ian (izit?) and cycling,if only to annoy all those Daily Moan readers.However,DO NOT dress like one of those aged (think 60+) muppets,who wear £150 wrap around Oakleys and Team EPO lycra,that only look good on someone a third of their age.People will point and laugh,they may even throw empty San Miguel bottles!

Oh,and don't go to a doctor.In most countries they have the highest suicide rate.No point in wasting time telling your symptoms to a guy who will have killed himself by the time of your next appointment.

Nope,what you require m'boy,is a motorhome with 2 old boneshakers strapped to the back (never new bikes,they will be stolen),and there you go,the world is your scallop.Head for Portugal or France,and mix and match campsites and wild camping.OK,you will meet some uber boring "I'm a blogger" or "I'm writing a really funny book about my life working for DynoRod" or "I do guided walks" or "I teach Dutch Pressure Cooker Dried Bean Cooking" types,but hey ho,you can just up sticks and move.

My wife and I are just back again,which is why I'm having a quick shufti at EOS before setting off to........well,who knows where.

Please feel free to correct "me gramma and spellin"

Hi KeyserSoze,

Nice first post, I predict that you are not about to become one of the self appointed forum hierarchy. 

Spanish Dragon,

time has passsed since your postings. Do update us on what you have found to fill your time.

I took 2013 out of work whilst the Company relocated from South of France ( where I had worked for 30-years) back to Switzerland. Had a good time exploring Spain and Portugal. I enjoyed it met a lot of interesting people and saw most of the countries good and bad points. Yet towards the end started to miss work (I'm a research scientist) and went back to work 2-months before I was due back. We are now located in Oxford and Zurich and enjoying work and our new country (I'm Canadian and my wife Italian).

I can appreciate work life ending, although for me it was temp, and now hope the brain continues to function so I can work for ever, well as long as possible.

I guess after a long time working nothing prepares you for the career change into retirement and a new country, loss of the company and banter of fellow workers and reduced income.

Maybe there's the opportunity to form self help groups for fellow reitees ina similar postion to your self.

Let's know what you are up too now.

Ross

I came to Spain when I retired in UK at 48 from a very demanding job.   I can recommend early retirement .

Never been bored, just find that days now are too short.

I often think that beach fishing looks interesting, albeit I've never actually witnessed anyone catching anything. Tending an all year round garden would be nice, as would be keeping a pool in tip top order, I'd still have a couple of dogs that would keep me fit, so what's to be bored about?