What to do in retirement is more than a list of hobbies. Ways to make empty days meaningful through movement, learning, connection and contribution.
The first week goes by like a holiday. You wake without an alarm, linger over breakfast, sort out the cupboard you have been putting off for years, paint the balcony. One morning in the middle of the second month, while drinking your tea, you look at the clock: half past nine. A long, empty day lies ahead and you don't know what to do. The television goes on, then off; you go down to the shops and come back. By evening the day has passed but left no trace. What to do in retirement is, for many people, the question asked most and answered least in the first months of retirement. In this article we approach this question not with a ready-made list of hobbies, but by starting from what a person really needs: How can you structure empty days, how can you find pursuits that are meaningful to you, and what should you watch out for during this process?
What to Do in Retirement? First, Asking the Right Question
Most advice about retirement begins with a list of activities: gardening, walking, courses, travel. These suggestions are useful; but on their own they often don't work. Because working life didn't just fill the hours; it also provided a person with other things.
A job, even if we don't realise it, gives us the following:
- Structure: A reason to get up in the morning, hours that divide up the day, the rhythm of the week
- Identity: Being able to say "I'm a teacher" or "I'm a mechanical engineer"
- People: Colleagues, customers, chats at the tea point
- Purpose: Completing something, finding a solution to a problem, being useful to someone
- Appreciation: Having your effort seen, hearing "Well done"
The sense of emptiness in retirement usually comes not from the hours being empty, but from these needs going unmet. So the real question is not "What shall I do?" but "Which of the things my job gave me do I miss most, and how can I meet that need?" If someone misses people most, a hobby done alone will not be enough. If someone most misses the feeling of being useful, an activity done just to pass the time may not satisfy them.
We have covered the psychological aspects of retirement and how to prepare for this period in detail in our article on preparing for retirement.
Why Does the Sense of Emptiness Arise?
In the first months of retirement, many people go through a kind of "honeymoon" period. Resting, doing postponed jobs and enjoying freedom feel good. But when this period ends, some people may begin to notice the following signs:
- Not finding a reason to get up in the morning, staying in bed for long periods during the day
- Hours spent in front of the television gradually increasing
- Irritability towards your spouse, children or neighbours
- The thought "Nobody needs me any more"
- Constantly thinking about your former workplace and colleagues
- Disrupted sleep, changes in appetite
On their own these signs do not amount to a diagnosis, and they are usually part of a process of adjustment. But if they go on for months and the person can't enjoy anything, the situation deserves a more careful assessment.
The intensity of the sense of emptiness varies greatly from person to person. For someone who retires in their forties or fifties, the question is as much "What shall I do with this energy?" as "What shall I do with my remaining years?" Someone retiring after a long, demanding career may first need rest, and then gradually a new rhythm. Adjustment also works differently for those who chose to retire and those who were forced to retire for reasons such as health problems or redundancy. If you retired against your wishes, you may first need to acknowledge the emotional weight of this loss.
Six Core Needs That Fill the Days in Retirement
The pursuits that make retirement meaningful usually respond to one or more of six core needs. When planning your own days, you can take care to include at least one thing from each of them in your week.
Movement
As the body moves, the mind comes alive too. Morning walks, free municipal sports areas, swimming, gentle exercise groups or gardening support both physical health and mood. Walking with a friend or a group also turns movement into a social gathering.
Learning
Learning something new is one of the most effective ways of keeping the mind active. Courses at Public Education Centres (Halk Eğitim Merkezleri), some universities' programmes for older adults, online classes, a foreign language, a musical instrument, ebru (marbling), wood carving, photography... What matters is not so much what is learned as the learning itself.
Making
Making something with your hands and seeing the result brings deep satisfaction. Growing vegetables in the garden, making jam and pickles, knitting, repairing old things or restoring a piece of furniture let you see a concrete return for your effort.
Connection
Human relationships are among the most important protectors of mental health in later life. Regular meet-ups with old friends, neighbourly relationships, the mosque or cemevi community, retirees' associations and municipal centres for older people are ways of forming new bonds and keeping old ones alive. For more on loneliness, take a look at our article on feeling lonely.
Contribution
Being useful to someone directly nourishes the sense of being useful. Volunteer work, such as reading, writing or homework support for children, volunteering in hospitals, helping animal shelters, neighbourhood solidarity networks or sharing your professional experience with young people, can give retirement a deep sense of meaning.
Enjoyment
Not everything has to serve a purpose. Watching a series you love, listening to old songs, reading a book, taking a day trip to a seaside town or drinking your morning coffee without rushing remind you of the taste of life. Small pleasures postponed during the working years can be enjoyed in retirement without guilt.
Retirement is less about filling the gap work leaves and more about making room for the long-postponed sides of life.
What to Do in Retirement in Turkey? Concrete Opportunities
There are many concrete opportunities for retirees in Turkey; but they often go unknown or unused.
Municipal facilities: Many municipalities have activity centres for older people, free courses, gyms, cultural trips and health screenings. Asking your neighbourhood head (muhtar) or the municipality's social services unit can be a good start.
Life in the home town and the village: Some retirees spend part of the year in their home town, in the vineyard or the garden. This allows both connection with nature and producing something. But before making this decision, it is important to think about issues such as access to health services, loneliness in winter and distance from children and grandchildren.
Writing memoirs and recording family history: Writing about the neighbourhood of your childhood, your younger years, stories of migration and Bayram (religious holiday) celebrations of old, or recording them with your grandchildren, leaves a valuable legacy both for you and for future generations. For example, a retired nurse who worked for thirty years in a state hospital might start writing down the moments from her working life she has never forgotten in a notebook; a few months later, that notebook could become her grandchildren's favourite storybook.
Developing digital skills: Making video calls on a smartphone makes it easier to stay connected with children and grandchildren abroad or in another city. Learning these skills from a grandchild or on a course brings both practical and social benefits.
Time with grandchildren: Looking after grandchildren is a great source of joy for many retirees. But this responsibility taking up your whole day can lead you to put your own needs second. Time with grandchildren becomes more enjoyable when it is one of the pursuits of retirement, not the only one.
Practical Suggestions for Planning Your Days in Retirement
Draw up a weekly framework
You don't need to plan every day hour by hour; but placing particular pursuits on particular days of the week noticeably reduces the sense of emptiness. For example, a walking group on Monday and Thursday mornings, a course on Wednesday afternoon, meeting a friend on Friday.
Get up in the morning for a reason
How the day starts largely determines how it will go. Getting up at a set time in the morning, getting dressed and leaving the house, even briefly, gives energy to the rest of the day.
Start small and experiment
The first pursuit you try may not suit you. Leaving a course, changing association or giving up a hobby is not failure. You can see the first year of retirement as a period of discovering what is good for you.
You don't have to do the same things as your spouse
Shared pursuits with your spouse nourish the relationship; but it is also important for each of you to have your own interests and friends. Our article on having a retired spouse at home may also be helpful regarding the new balance built in marriage after retirement.
Keep a curiosity list
A "to-do list" can create a sense of duty even in retirement. Instead, keep a list of "things I'm curious about": a city you want to see, a dish you want to learn, an author you want to read, an old friend you want to see again. Choosing one thing from this list each month adds small moments of excitement to your days.
Remember your values
What has mattered most to you throughout your life? Fairness, helping one another, learning, family, nature? Pursuits that fit these values give you not just a way of passing time, but meaning too.
When Should You Seek Professional Support?
Adjusting to retirement is, for most people, a process that takes anywhere from a few months to a year. However, getting support from a professional may be helpful in the following situations:
- Being unable to enjoy anything even though months have passed since retirement
- Spending most of the day in bed or in front of the television
- Marked withdrawal and distancing from social relationships
- Long-lasting changes in sleep and appetite
- Increasing alcohol use
- Hopelessness, worthlessness and thoughts such as "There's no point in living any more"
At moments when you have thoughts of harming yourself, please don't stay alone; in an emergency call 112 (emergency services) and let someone close to you know.
For retirees with limited mobility or who live in another city, online therapy can be a way of getting support without leaving home.
How Is the Retirement Period Addressed in Therapy?
In therapy, retirement is approached both as a loss and as a new beginning. The first step is to acknowledge the loss of what work provided, namely structure, identity, relationships and purpose, and to make room for grieving this loss.
In cognitive behavioural therapy, thoughts such as "I'm no use any more" or "You can't start something new at this age" are examined and a more balanced perspective is developed. Using behavioural activation, small activities the person values are added step by step to their daily life.
In the acceptance and commitment therapy approach, the values that matter to the person are identified and meaningful steps are planned in line with these values. With this approach, retirement is reframed not as an end, but as a different chapter of life.
During therapy it is sometimes seen that retirement also brings older, postponed questions to the surface: anxiety about ageing, facing losses, past regrets or the relationship with adult children. These questions are not a side effect of retirement but the natural agenda of this stage of life, and when they are talked about they can allow the person to look at their remaining years with a lighter load.
Frequently Asked Questions
I've retired but I have no enthusiasm for anything. Where should I start?
Enthusiasm usually comes not before you take action but after. So rather than a big plan, start with a single small pursuit you can do once a week; for example, a morning walk with a friend. If this lack of motivation has gone on for months and there are also changes in areas such as sleep and appetite, a professional assessment is helpful.
I live alone. How can I stay socially active in retirement?
Regular, pre-arranged gatherings are especially important for retirees who live alone. Municipal centres for older people, retirees' associations, courses, volunteer work and places-of-worship communities offer good opportunities to form new bonds. You can also make video calls with relatives who live far away a weekly habit.
My budget is limited. What to do in retirement, and what is free?
Many meaningful pursuits cost nothing: walking groups in parks, public libraries, free municipal courses and events, volunteer work and neighbourly gatherings are some of them. By asking your muhtar and your municipality's social services unit, you can find out about the free opportunities where you live.
Is it a good idea to settle in my home town once I retire?
Life in the home town does many people good in terms of being close to nature and producing something. But it is important to think in advance about issues such as access to health services, loneliness in the winter months and being far from children and grandchildren. Before making a permanent decision, it can help to try it out by spending one season there.
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Eda Erkan Alapala
Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.
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