1. You are at extreme risk for suicide in the next 2 months.
The suicide rate is AS BAD for retirees in the first 6mo, as parents who have lost both a child & spouse, simultaneously.
So f*ck the stats, please, and hang on for at least the next year. DELIBERATLY. Also deliberately? Add some “to live for” shit into your life. Some routine. Some excitement. Some curiosity. Something new to learn. Even if you had the most boring of jobs you hated, retiring is a death knell, for faaaaar too many folks.
I have the freeze response too but psychomotor retardation is more like extreme depression with slowing down of movement not freezing, very different.
2. This.
I retired 4 months ago and have spent countless hours in front of the TV. Even the most mundane of tasks are pretty painful. I'm both scared and ashamed of myself right now...
3. This is AS NORMAL (FOR RETIREES) as exhaustion & depression is for new parents.
4. With a trauma &/or PTSD history? It makes perfect sense that you’re mistaking “normal” suicidal depression post-retirement, for trauma-effects that need some sort of tip/trick/kick to the curb. With both, it’s usually a combo of both, which only increases your risk.
Seeeeweriously, the first 6mo of retirement are dangerous as hell. For EXACTLY THIS. survive the next year & expect the next 20-40 years to be amazing. But NOW??? Needs dealing with. The exact same way that new parents have to learn a sleep deprived world full of new terror. The overwhelming majority of the population become new parents, when old parents are still living to share in the “hilarity”, and offer advice. One of the biggest problems with retiring is how ALONE most people find themselves. Whilst they’re gutted, bereft, forlorn… regardless of the PLANS they had made. (A lot like how people who aren’t parents, yet, imagine BEING parents… only to discover? NOPE! All the plans were stupid. And don’t work. And this is an entirely different thing. Okay! So how the ever loving f*ck do we ACTUALLY do this?!?). But? Without the support structure inherant in most people having already experienced what is new, for you.
