Today I’m sharing why I love early retirement and would make the same retirement decision if I had it to do all over again.
In January 2021, on my 55th birthday, I submitted my letter of resignation. I was a Professor at Oklahoma State University and to my colleagues’ surprise had decided to take early retirement. My plan was to finish out the academic year and then officially retire from the university.

Retiring from faculty life was not something I expected to do when I chose education as my career path. Afterall, many of the faculty around me worked well past retirement age.
It’s a career that isn’t physically demanding and can be continued as long as you are mentally sharp. Plus, I loved teaching and had the best students.
But I had been contemplating early retirement for years. And I had a sneaking suspicion that I would love early retirement. So, when I met the minimum age at the university to retire (55), I took the early retirement leap.
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3 Reasons I Love Early Retirement
Four years later, I have discovered lots of reasons that I love retirement, but there are three primary reasons I love early retirement. Reasons that I believe truly required me to retire in order to focus my time and energy on what is most important to me.
Reason 1 is the opportunity to pursue personal interests and Reasons 2 and 3 are both related to newfound time to focus on personal relationships.
Reason 1. I Love Early Retirement and the Opportunity to Pursue Personal Interests
I love early retirement; I have time to do whatever I want, whenever I want. And I have the mental focus and physical energy to pursue personal interests.

My faculty position was consuming. Even when I wasn’t at the office, I was thinking about my job: my classes, teaching, my students, grading, managing grants, research projects, the list goes on and on.
And I enjoyed it!

But I also knew that I wanted to explore who I was outside of my career. And somewhere along the way decided that I wanted to jump in completely. That I wanted to let go of my work focus and be me outside of work.

Now that I’m retired, I’ve discovered the freedom to focus my time and energy on personal interests.
A Few of My Personal Interests
- I have discovered that I enjoy a relaxing morning by the fire or in the garden. I typically have a cup of coffee in hand. Midge, my dog is somewhere nearby, and I may be reading a good book or cutting flowers for a bouquet.
- And I’ve learned that growing flowers is something within my capacity. I love my cut flower garden! Especially zinnias and cosmos. And dahlias, but the Oklahoma wind is tough on them.
- I also enjoy swimming in the middle of the day with lots of other women that are retired, including several retired educators. And now that I’m retired, I can stop by the gym any time of day to take a yoga class on the studio mirror.
- Plus, retirement means I can hunt for vintage treasures any day of the week. I love being the first in line at estate sales and searching for vintage Christmas ornaments and Santa mugs. I also love McCoy pottery.
- Finally, I love writing, creating content and taking photographs. Sharing retired life at home in our country garden with you is personally rewarding. Thanks so much for being here and reading the blog.

Reason 2. I Love Early Retirement and Cherish Couple Time
Bill, my spouse, retired in 2020. One year before I retired. His decision to retire largely influenced my early retirement decision. Not only did my spouse retire, but my colleague retired.
For years, Bill and I worked together at the university. We both led the Agricultural Leadership major at Oklahoma State University. He even officed next door to me. Plus, since we were in the same field, we traveled together for professional meetings.
Bill used to joke that we spent 23-7 together and the only time we were apart was when one of us was teaching.

It was really strange for Bill to retire ahead of me. Not only was my spouse at home while I was at work, but my colleague had retired.
I knew that early retirement meant that I could be home with my spouse. That we could live our daily life together and that my work responsibilities wouldn’t get in the way of us making plans as a couple.

And to be completely transparent, I knew that in general women live longer than men and made the decision that I didn’t want to spend precious time at the office while my spouse was a home.

I love early retirement with Bill and cherish our time together as a couple.
Cherished Couple Time
- One of our favorite things to do together is take day trips. We can hop in the car and take a road trip any day of the week, it’s so much fun and great quality time.
- Now that we’re retired from the university, we can vacation any time of the year (not just in the summer when classes aren’t in session). Since retiring, we take an annual winter vacation to the beach, and we’ve started to explore vacationing in the fall. Last October we took a trip to Maine, it was beautiful.
- Gardening together (ordering seeds, shopping for plants, completing garden projects, showing each other what we’ve grown) is a fun shared hobby. Bill has gardened for decades, and I began gardening during my first year of retirement. Plus, since we’re retired, we are home during the spring months when gardening season gets underway.
- Most importantly, I enjoy our day-to-day interactions. We’ve traded chatting about our students and planning work projects together for chatting by the fireplace or the firepit, eating and preparing meals together, caring for our home and taking daily walks.

Reason 3. I Love Early Retirement and Newfound Time with Family
My entire career, OSU graduation fell on the same weekend as Mother’s Day. And since my mom lives in Texas, it meant that instead of flying home to be with family that I had to meet work responsibilities here in Oklahoma.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved celebrating my students as they graduated. I just didn’t want to choose my students over celebrating in person with my mom.

Now that I’m retired, I can be home on Mother’s Day weekend. I love early retirement and newfound time with family.

Time with family is most definitely one of the primary reasons I love early retirement.

Family Time is a Gift
- Since retiring not only am I able to spend Mother’s Day with my mom, but we have also started completing a puzzle together each week over FaceTime. I mail each of us the same puzzle and them we call each other to work the edge together. We also check in with one another throughout the week. It’s so much fun.
- Retirement has also given me extra time to spend with my parents in general. Last Thanksgiving they visited and stayed for the entire week. And we get together every Wednesday morning over FaceTime to have coffee with one another. We chat for hours. Our time together is truly a gift!
- Now that I’m retired, I also find myself participating in more family events. For example, my niece was on Season 26 of Big Brother. She was on the block one evening and my sister decided to throw a last-minute watch party. I jumped in the car and 9 hours later joined the family. It was so much fun! BTW…she wasn’t evicted that night, but instead was the Season 26 Runner-up.
- Retirement also means more time with Bill’s family. We recently joined his family in Illinois to celebrate his sister’s birthday and will be traveling to Florida to celebrate his mom’s 90th birthday in March.
- Lastly, family weddings are so much more fun now that we’re retired. We are able to travel to weddings and then stay in the area a few extra days. It seems like each wedding becomes a mini vacation with family.

Why I Love Early Retirement: A Few Final Notes
Choosing to retire early is a big decision. Not only a financial decision, but also a decision that impacts every aspect of your life. In some ways the financial part of retiring is the easier decision to make especially with the help of a financial advisor.
It’s the personal side of choosing to retire that can be more difficult. For me, I love early retirement and choosing to retire early was the right choice. I love the time and energy that I now have to focus on personal interests, as well as the freedom I have to spend time with Bill and our extended family.
Cheers to retired life, and as always, happy gardening!
X Penny Pennington Weeks

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Three Tips on Creating a Happy Retired Life
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Penny:
Thank you for sharing your beautiful retirement life.
I also retired from the Federal government on 03/31/2023 after 25 years.
It was not easy to do as you can imagine, the process was difficult and time consuming.
However now looking back now I like you am very relaxed and happy I did.
I enjoy reading your articles. I also have a “Bill” husband, and a grandson named “Frankie” lol life is funny.
Take care and Thank you.
Dalia Squires
Congrats on your retirement! Yes, I remember the paperwork. LOL! It sounds like we have lots in common. I’m so glad you are enjoying retirement. Thanks so much for stopping by the blog!
Penny