I could have just about written your post Stillsearching. I also worked from about the age of 16 and gave up work 2 years ago at the age of 56 (I'm now 58) after my parents passed away. I'd been working part time for the final couple of years, so I thought I was prepared for more leisure time, but I was in for a shock. I suffered a lot of depression for the first few months because I really felt lost and isolated.
I also found that I even faced a lot of judgement from people when I said I was “retiredâ€. It was almost as if I had no right to give up work after working hard for 40 years. This was also compounded by the fact that apparently I look a lot younger than 58. I will admit an inheritance from my parents brought forward my retirement plans, and I never had kids, but I had still single handedly paid for my own home and retirement fund. I never had a partner who helped pay for any of those things, so I was really angry that I got this judgement from people. “Retired†is a word I now avoid using because people still have a very old fashioned idea of what it means. They seem to think that retired means retired from life, but it just means retired from work. I'm busier now than I was when I was working.
Anyway, I knew that if my life was to improve it was totally up to me. My local area has a free monthly magazine and there are often things advertised there. The shopping centre has a coffee group that meets once a week and I have met some really lovely ladies that way, and we often do things together separately to the coffee group. We now have our own “Girl's Day Out†once a month where we will go out for lunch in a different area or a day trip somewhere. Some of these ladies are around 10 years older than me, but they are “young at heart†women who don't sit around moaning about their aches and pains, and annoying husbands and kids. I couldn't stand that. Age is just a number. It's the attitude of the person that's more important. A person can be really old at the age of 40. I often get called the “babyâ€, which is annoying when I'm a pretty old menopausal baby, but it's not said in malice.
I also found that I have a knack for painting, and go to an art class once a week with a local lady who does it from her home, and I've actually gotten quite good at it. For a little while I volunteered for the RSPCA, but I actually found I was too busy to commit to a specific shift every week. I almost felt like it was a bit like having to go to work, so I gave that up. I want to be totally free to do whatever I like, whenever I like
There is an organisation called Meet-up which may well have groups in your area and I think can be organised by interest? Have a Google.
Meetup.com is a really great option. For a number of years I ran my own group, but I closed it down about a year ago. I am now just a member of a few groups and they are great. There are lots of different groups you can join and the ages are quite variable, so there will be people who are older, younger or similar age to you. If you can't find a group you like, start your own. It's really easy.
So I have now become one of those people I used to hate, who says “I don't know how I had time to go to workâ€. I'm out most days and I love it. When people ask me what I do, I now say “social butterfly†instead of retired. Sometimes it actually gets a bit too much, but I just factor in a few days to stay at home and do nothing and I'm good to go again.
The main thing is to give yourself time to adapt to your new lifestyle. It might take a little while, but if you keep looking for things to do I'm sure you'll find lots of things to keep you busy.