I’m wondering, after two years of retirement, am I happy or ….? I’ve got a few retirement tidbits to share in this video that may keep you from making the same mistakes.
Health Goal – Lose 35 lbs
Another repeat goal. *sigh*. A never ending story. One of these days I’ll get back into the groove where I lost 80 lbs and got down to my high school weight. Is 2026 the year for this to happen? We’ll see.
Health Goal – Walk 300 Miles
Going hand in hand with the weight loss goal, I’m going to strive to walk everyday regardless of weather. I have a treadmill for those bad weather days. I should be able to walk 300 miles in 2026. There I said it, 300 miles. Possible if I do one mile per day.
Creative Goal – Write, record and distribute 6 songs
A repeat goal. I plan to continue to release songs from myself @chucksturgeonmusic and also my country band @sturgeoncountry. So I feel pretty confidant about this goal and I enjoy making music.
Creative Goal – Play at least one acoustic show live in public
So, I’ve been practicing an acoustic set or two with the intention of playing live… in front of people. Something I haven’t done in 8 or 9 years. On top of that, I’ve never been on a stage by myself where the focus is completely on me. Scary, but I’m determined to at least play out once, preferably starting with an assisted living place. So fingers crossed I get this going. I’ve bought all the equipment I need to do this and I have been practicing. Just got to get motivated.
Creative Goal – 2 blog postings per month
I’ve eliminated the YouTube videos goal. I’m just not feeling the whole YouTube thing anymore. I’ll still work on music videos to release from my Music Channels but not going to stress over creating videos for the Retirement Ain’t Easy channel. But I do intend to continue blogging and work to get back into blogging regularly with discussions about retirement, politics and whatever else I feel like. It’s my blog.
Creative Goal – Build 3 scale models or LEGO models
In 2025 I built 3 models and no LEGO. I plan to do better in 2026. I have a stack of models to build and at least one LEGO build waiting to happen. So I’m thinking I can complete this goal.
Retirement Goal – Downsize by selling toys, comic books and music equipment
Repeat goal and a must to-do. I really have way too many toys that will never get a display case. I am even considering selling off a bunch of my KISS collectibles. Since my health insurance costs have tripled for 2026, I need more money. Comic books is another area where I have way too many. If I could find someone to give me a decent price for the whole collection, I’d sell. As far as music equipment, I have a few things I could sell. I may give away a couple of guitars to the organization I volunteer with – Kids Who Rock.
Retirement Goal – read 45 books/ebooks
I’ve set this goal to a more challenging number for this year. Last year I had to bump it up. I don’t see a problem with meeting this goal. I’m usually reading two books a month. One e-book and one hard book. I have a Kindle subscription that feeds many plenty of books.
Retirement Goal – Medicare
I had a great finance plan for 2026 but it got blown up when the Obamacare subsidy ended. Along with the ending of the subsidy, my health plan went up $900 per month! So without the subsidy, plus the increase, I’m paying 3 times what I paid in 2024 and 2025. Sucks! Going to sign up and start receiving Medicare in October.
Retirement Goal – Stress Relief
Minimize stress from managing my Mom’s finances and dealing with a brother that doesn’t understand money or a budget. Ultimately its not my problem.
Minimize the stress of helping my sons out of financial jams. I guess it’s better to give now and help them out instead of waiting for them to inherit it. I feel a certain level of obligation to help my kids, but I also counsel them on busting and maybe consider moving to a small town where things are cheaper.
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that I set resolutions or goals every year and actually strive to meet those resolutions. I’m going to start calling them goals to satisfy the ex-Project Manager in me. So here are the results for 2025’s Goals with a grade for each.
Write, record and distribute 6 songs for public consumption
GRADE: A
I was able to release 3 songs under my own name @chucksturgeonmusic. And in November I wrote a Christmas Song – Christmas is Special – for a song contest (didn’t win) that triggered me to create an AI country band called Sturgeon Country and release two more songs through that music vehicle. I have a couple more songs for the country band to put together and a couple of songs of my own to complete in 2026.
Lose weight – a continuous goal – 200 lbs
GRADE: F
An ongoing goal. Did not accomplish. Sadly. I’m still about 35 lbs overweight. Health-wise, I had my right hip replacement surgery in August and that has allowed me to start walking again without too much pain. I still have lower back ache when I overdo any physical activity, but it’s great to be walking without a limp and upright.
YouTube goal – 2 videos per month at least on Retirement Channel and 1 video per month on Music channel
Grade: B
January – RAE – 10 Music – 2
February – RAE 3 Music – 0
March – RAE – 4 Music – 1
April – RAE – 6 Music – 2
May – RAE – 6 Music – 8
June – RAE – 2 Music – 0
July RAE – RAE – 0 Music – 0
August – RAE – 7 Music – 0
September – RAE – 3 Music – 1
October – RAE -3 Music – 0
November – RAE- 3 Music – 0
December – RAE – 1 Music – 2
I think I did alright. But the Music Channels did not meet the goal. I always start the year strong, then get tired of creating videos in the summer and then get determined again in the Fall. December I had a couple of videos planned but my mom had a Stroke and so we were out of town for a whole week so didn’t get ramped back up to get out two more. I’m not sure I will continue to post YouTube videos regularly. My hip replacement videos got lots of views and comments, that was nice, but creating videos is a full time job and I don’t want a full time job again.
Blog goal – 2 blog postings per month
GRADE: A-
January – 7 postings
February – 4 postings
March – 4 postings
April – 5 postings
May – 9 postings
June – 2 postings
July – 1 posting
August – 4 postings
September – 7 postings
October – 6 postings
November – 3 postings
December – 3 postings
I did a little better with blog postings because, well it’s easier to write than to create and edit a video. So I will continue to blog, not stopping that.
Downsize – sell toys, comic books and music equipment
GRADE: B+
Gonna say I did good on this. I sold 7 pieces of music equipment that I no longer used. Unfortunately I used those proceeds to buy other music equipment. Didn’t sell any comic books, didn’t try. I sold a couple of toys but not nearly enough. I need to sell more. I did clear out all my old project management and process books. We took them to Half-price books and got pennies on the dollar but 99% of the information in those books is readily available on the internet now.
Goodreads goal – 25 books/ebooks
GRADE: A
I actually raised this goal to 50 books about halfway through the year. So the goal is 50 books and I read 54 books according to Goodreads, the site I use to track my reading. I’m already reading two books in January.
Enjoy Retirement
GRADE: B+
I’m enjoying retirement but I give myself this B+ grade only because I am having to manage the finances for my Mom, which is a challenge with a brother (grown adult) that lives with her and spends her money on junk. He is a hoarder and it’s difficult to control him from 500 miles away. Also my kids are finding it very difficult to live in the Dallas Metroplex. With the incoming flux of Californians (mostly) and other folks, owning a house will never happen for my kids in this area do to the price increases. And rent has gone up as well. They barely live paycheck to paycheck, so I help where I can.
Happy 2026, check my 2026 New Years Goals posting for what I plan to accomplish in 2026.
My band, Sturgeon Country, has released two more songs, in addition to the Christmas song, “Christmas is Special“. “Forever and a Day” was released on December 17, 2025 and “Me and Her, You and Him” was released on December 19, 2025. All the songs are on Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube Music.
They’ve also put out another music video for “Forever and a Day“. Music videos are on the Sturgeon Country YouTube channel. Follow us on Facebook too. Appreciate you checking the songs and videos out. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.
Good news, YouTube has recognized my country band’s @SturgeonCountry channel as an Official Artist Channel (OAC). You’ll be able to listen to any song releases there as well as view any music videos and other content. Check it out (click on the band picture) and go subscribe please.
You can also find our music on Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp and pretty much anywhere you stream your music. Thanks.
I wrote and recorded a Christmas song for a songwriting contest called Christmas is Special. A demo was created of me singing and playing guitar. I took that demo and used Suno (AI) to create a country song. I created a virtual country band called Sturgeon Country and released the song through this band. I have now created a music video for the song using various AI platforms. I’ve posted it on this Sturgeon Country YouTube site and below. Have a listen.
If you care to listen to me elaborate on how this was done check out this video on my Retirement Ain’t Easy channel.
In this video I provide a 15 Week Post Hip Replacement Surgery, update on my recent cardiologist visit and I review a couple of purchases to kickstart my walking routine.
I accomplished anorher goal. It was to take my Aniioke e-bike to the big park by my neigborhood. It’s about 1 1/2 miles away and I have to get out on a main road out of my neighborhood.
After hip surgery on August 4, 2025, I set 3 goals for myself. One of those goals was to ride my e-bike, an Aniioke AQ177 Pro Max that I bought in October 2024. I was not able to ride it when I first bought it due to my painful right hip. Fast forward one year and now, after right hip replacement surgery, in the video I’m going to try riding it. I’ll also share my initial receiving and building of the bike and finally my impressions.
This is it, Week 12 Post Hip Surgery. Physical Therapy complete. No more requirements to perform exercises. I’m completely done. But am I? How does it feel 12 weeks later? Am I 100%, 90%? I address things in this video.
Our thoughts define us, so let's focus on a few.
Let's Legitimize Personal Creative Nonfiction
It's only kinky the first time...
Integrating the spirals (holism, art, music, and writing) for peace, ease, freedom, and alignment of mind, body, spirit, and soul.
Retirement Ain't Easy 