When Habits Sabotage What We Want in Retirement

We carry habits that sabotage into retirement without noticing. A reflection on digital noise, busyness, and choosing what matters.

Enough

As I sat down to write my first blog post of the year, I couldn’t help but feel the lingering effects of holiday overindulgence: too much food, too many desserts, a little too much wine. I’m a bit wider than I was a month ago, and my digestive system is clearly shouting, “Enough already!”

It’s funny, because I felt something very similar in mid-December but it had nothing to do with food. That discomfort came from digital input.

Simplicity

This morning, I instinctively reached for a mechanical pencil and a notebook. A YouTube piano medley (guaranteed to help me concentrate) played softly in the background. There’s a deeper connection with words when I write by hand. Normally, I open a word processor and start typing, but there’s often a disconnect as if the words lose something in translation on their way to the screen. I think better with a pencil in my hand. I believe I communicate more honestly that way too – more from the heart.

I was craving simplicity.

Less

Over the holidays, I took a kind of digital vacation. Not a full retreat, but my usage dropped significantly. I checked email every day or two and mostly ignored social media, allowing myself just a few minutes here and there. I posted once or twice personally, but chose instead to connect directly with individuals this year.

It meant I missed seeing a lot of people, and I felt that, but simply didn’t have the bandwidth. My priority was to enjoy my family and give myself real downtime. And honestly? It was perfect.

Just before the holidays, I removed the Facebook app from my “smart” phone. I’ve never installed email on the current device since losing my last cell in May of 2024. The temptation to check was surprisingly strong at first and then it disappeared entirely once the option was gone. I consider myself semi-retired, and I want to keep it that way. I check email only when sitting at my desk, in front of my laptop.

Noise

By mid-December, I was exhausted by the noise: the relentless see me, pick me, buy me that greets us every time we open Facebook or LinkedIn. Over the past year, these platforms have taken a deeper dive into outrage and certainty, with armchair politicians dissecting every word and action from the opposing camp. So many posts feel like “There – see this – it proves my point,” when in reality we can never be fully sure what’s true or false in the digital world. 

Our brains don’t help. The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is designed to look for evidence that supports what we already believe. When the same ideas show up again and again, they start to feel like truth – simply because they’re familiar. And without realizing it, we end up reinforcing mental habits that leave us feeling more reactive, more distracted, and less intentional.

Social Media

When I think back to the reasons for using these platforms in the first place, it began with Facebook when my children were teenagers. It gave me a window into what they were consuming. I stayed because it offered a gentle way to keep up with friends and family in Nova Scotia – people I cared about deeply but didn’t necessarily call on the phone.

It became a lifeline during my solo travels across Canada, and later during those long, isolating months of COVID.

LinkedIn, too, has real value. It’s a wonderful platform for creating awareness about my work as a retirement coach and for connecting with others doing similar work.

But now, both platforms feel primarily like advertising machines. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to read all the thoughtful articles and blog posts that genuinely interest me. Sometimes, I’m a “bad” social media user: I’ll post, then quickly move on to the next thing. Apparently, the algorithms punish this behaviour if you’re not constantly consuming and commenting on others’ content.

Habits

It makes me wonder what life was like before the habit of endlessly checking these platforms. I suspect my house was cleaner. I probably ate better. Meal planning happened without distraction. And, in-person connections happened frequently.

I’ve also noticed that many of the habits I developed in my full-time corporate career have followed me into building my coaching business. That’s interesting, especially since those very habits contributed to my decision to take early retirement in the first place.

We really do take ourselves with us wherever we go!

Habit versus Need

My old default of busy for the sake of busy has crept back yet again and most of it hasn’t actually helped me be a better human or helped my business grow. As a coach, the best testimonial is doing the work and helping people get results. That can be hard to remember early on, when you’re searching for clients and building a presence.

The point of this post isn’t to convince you to turn your back on the digital world, quite the opposite. It’s an invitation to look at each tool honestly.

What does it allow you to do?

How does it make your life easier or better?

And if it does neither, can you let it go?

What Matters?

Life is short. And during the retirement years, we owe it to ourselves to spend our time intentionally and on what brings meaning, joy, or whatever else matters most to us.

Bring those things into 2026 with you.

Happy New Year.