I have fallen into the well-trodden rut of having a failed (somewhat) retirement. It's a common joke among academics that we excel at failing to retire. Other professionals might have the same problem; I don't know because I've really only been an academic.
One reason for failing is that doctoral students linger. I was still on the dissertation committees of two students and needed to active as a committee member. They both have graduates as of this fall semester. So, I can say "all done." Being involved with doctoral students was an honorable and awesome, albeit time consuming and intense, experience. I always learned more from them as they did their research than I could possibly have taught them.
Another way to fail at retirement is to get involved as a consultant on someone's grant. So much more to be said about this in another post. Promise.
And then there's just being around as an expert willing to do a class or two for faculty who are seeking help or relief for a week. I'll post about my experience in one of those classes.
