Lifestyle

Is Retiring Like Quitting Sugar?

by Cynthia Ross Tustin

2026-05-29

Is Retiring Like Quitting Sugar?

Back in 2021, before I officially retired, I wrote a post asking a strange little question: Is retiring actually like quitting sugar? Or caffeine? Or whatever else is your juice.

At the time, I thought I was mostly joking.

Now, several years later, I’m not so sure.

Because the deeper I get into retirement — and the more people I speak to about retirement — the more convinced I become that work functions a lot like a powerful psychological stimulant.

Not just financially.

Psychologically.

And when you suddenly remove something that has structured, reinforced, and stimulated your brain for decades?

Well…things can get weird.

What Are We Actually Giving Up?

Most retirement books tell us to “take stock” before leaving work.

We’re told to review:

finances
investments
pensions
healthcare
insurance
and future budgets

All important, obviously.

But very few people ask a different question:

👉 What exactly are we giving up?

That question feels particularly important for people who genuinely love their careers.

And yes, there are more of us than the internet sometimes admits.

Many people quietly built entire identities around:

competence
usefulness
urgency
leadership
problem-solving
teamwork
responsibility
and momentum

Work did not just provide income.

It provided reinforcement.

That’s the part I underestimated.

The Daily “Sugar Rush”

I loved my career. I fought hard for it.

At the time I was hired, I became the first female full-time Fire Chief in Ontario and only the third female Fire Chief in Canada.

That did not happen accidentally.

It took:

grit
stubbornness
resilience
long hours
and an almost unreasonable level of determination

And honestly?
There was a certain buzz that came with it all.

The fire service is full of stimulation:

lights
sirens
urgency
teamwork
leadership
adrenaline
decision-making
and the deeply human satisfaction of helping people during the worst moments of their lives

That kind of work creates powerful psychological reinforcement loops.

You feel needed.
Useful.
Competent.
Relevant.

That is a hard thing to walk away from.

Especially when the job becomes tightly connected to your identity.

And that is where the sugar metaphor suddenly stopped feeling metaphorical.

Because retirement, for many people, is not simply the removal of work.

It is a withdrawal from decades of reinforcement.

The Three Ways People “Quit Sugar”

Over the years, I’ve watched friends approach retirement in completely different ways.

And honestly? I think they unintentionally stumbled into three very different models of retirement psychology.

1. The Cold Turkey Method

My friend Ryan announced his retirement spectacularly.

At the top of his game as a highly respected Fire Chief, he suddenly declared:

“I’m retiring, selling everything, getting married, and moving to Costa Rica to open a boutique hotel.”

Wait…what?

At forty-two years old, no less.

It sounded impulsive to some people. What looked to some people like a midlife crisis increasingly looked to me like something much braver: a conscious decision to build a larger life instead of slowly shrinking inside a successful one.

I think Ryan instinctively understood something important:

If you remove one source of stimulation and identity, you often need another.

What looked like “retirement” was actually:

reinvention
novelty
entrepreneurship
adventure
challenge
and participation

In retirement psychology, abrupt transitions like this are often described as major role exits.

The old identity disappears quickly.

A new one must be built equally quickly.

And honestly? Ryan never really stopped working.

His “retirement” now includes:

hospitality
entrepreneurship
scuba instruction
ATV tours,
real estate, and property management

Which tells me something important:

He did not retire from participation.

He retired from one form of participation.

2. The Substitution Method

Then there’s my friend Tim.

If retirement had a nicotine patch equivalent, Tim found it.

He transitioned from the fire service into consulting.

Yes, still working.
Absolutely, still contributing.
And, thankfully, still using decades of accumulated expertise.

But on his own terms.

Less bureaucracy.
More flexibility.
More autonomy.

Tim’s approach reflected something I now think matters deeply in retirement transition: continuity. He preserved the parts of his working life that still gave him energy, purpose, and momentum — but finally on his own terms.

Tim, of course, had no way of knowing that psychologists actually recognize continuity theory. The idea is that people tend to adjust better to retirement when they preserve meaningful parts of their previous identity rather than abandoning everything at once.

That makes enormous sense to me.

Because retirement is not just about stopping something.

It is about preserving enough continuity that your brain still recognizes your life as your life.

Tim may technically be retired.

But psychologically?
He maintained continuity of:

competence
usefulness
leadership
and contribution

That transition appears much gentler.

3. The “Never Really Needed to Quit” Method

And then there’s my friend Hopee.

Honestly, she may be the smartest one of all.

Hopee is a professional photographer in her seventies who is still totally vibrant, works constantly, creates art daily, and somehow possesses the energy of someone who never received the memo about slowing down.

More importantly, she never seems to have lost what I now think of as “beginner energy” — the willingness to stay curious, engaged, creative, and open to new experiences long after many adults begin shrinking their worlds.

She never really separated:

work
creativity
movement
curiosity
and identity

They simply became an integrated life.

Even while caring for her husband during his battle with Alzheimer’s Disease, she remained deeply engaged with:

photography
art
people
creativity
and purpose

Watching her over the years made me realize something:

Maybe the healthiest retirements are not built through total withdrawal.

Maybe they are built through continued participation.

Hopee did not need to “quit sugar” because she never binged on one narrow version of identity in the first place.

Her seventies look remarkably similar to her forties:

creative
active
engaged
connected
and fully participating in life

And honestly?
There is something deeply instructive about that.

Retirement Withdrawal Is Real

When people talk about retirement adjustment, they often frame it as:

boredom
lack of hobbies
or having “too much free time.”

But I increasingly think something deeper is happening.

Retirement removes:

reinforcement
structure
stimulation
momentum
identity
urgency
social interaction
measurable progress
and external validation

All at once.

That is psychologically enormous.

Especially for highly mission-driven professionals.

And because retirement is culturally framed as a reward, many people feel guilty admitting the emotional side feels strange.

After all, how do you complain about freedom?

But freedom without structure can sometimes feel surprisingly disorienting.

Which is why so many retirees eventually rediscover:

volunteering
mentoring
hobbies
movement
travel
learning
creativity
and meaningful routines

Not simply to stay busy.

But to rebuild reinforcement in healthier, more intentional ways.

Rebuilding Before Reinventing

One of the biggest mistakes many people make in retirement is assuming they must completely reinvent themselves overnight with all new:

Hobbies.
Routines.
Identity.
Purpose.
Life.

But perhaps retirement works better when we first rebuild before we reinvent.

And rebuilding often starts by restoring:

rhythm
movement
connection
participation
challenge
and continuity

Not perfectly.

Just intentionally.

Because maybe the real goal of retirement is not to eliminate all structure.

Maybe the goal is learning how to build a healthier version of it.