If I’m Retired, Do I still Need to Make My Bed every day?

If I’m retired, do I still need to make my bed?  And it turns out that one small habit mattered more in retirement than it ever did during my career.

Prior to retirement, I made my bed every day. Nothing fancy, just yanked the covers up.  Don’t get me wrong, my bed could look like it does in the picture above.  I love all the pretty pillows and textiles from my friend’s store (Halliday House & Co) in Cookstown.  Everything is artfully arranged/staged.  But honestly,  I’m just too damn lazy to maintain this “company is coming over” look on a daily basis. Special occasions only, sorry Martha Stewart.

But when I started my retirement last month, I stopped.  I even stopped pulling up the covers.  And that was fine for a few weeks until I realized how uncomfortable the unmade bed was making me.  Like some weird mental itch that I just couldn’t scratch, let alone figure out the cause.  I just assumed it was one of those “retirement adjustment” things I was feeling.  

What I didn’t realize at the time was this: when you retire, you don’t just lose a job—you lose the structure your brain has relied on for decades

Was There I Time When I Didn’t Make My Bed?

When I was a kid, I made the bed when I was told to. Not before.  Couldn’t be bothered…way better things to do. Then in my teenage years, I worked at The Millcroft Inn in Caledon as a maid, where I made everybody’s bed.  I even made Richard Gere’s bed, Lee Major’s bed, and the beds of the entire cast from Second City – yes John Candy too.  Posh hotel with a cool clientele, but still beds!  I’m a trained ICU trauma unit nurse.  Nursing, where bed-making is a career staple!  I spent years making beds…with people still in them.  So no bedmaking at home for me, except once a week when I changed the linen.

Hey Admiral, Do I Still Need To Make My Bed?

Seriously, I didn’t make my bed routinely until sometime in the 21st century!  Admiral McRaven of the US Navy Seals and his conviction for the benefits of the bed-making habit is what convinced me to give it a try.  It turned out to be a good and useful habit.

When I knew that I was retiring(ish), I knew I would need hobbies and things to do; hence the blog.  I took stock of my existing hobbies; I bolstered some and added new diversions.  And I also knew I would need a new non-work routine.  I think that was the real reason for that “weird mental itch” I was experiencing. No familiarity.

When I set out to find a new routine for this next chapter of life (crap, that sounds too Hallmark Moment, doesn’t it!), it never occurred to me to take stock of the daily habits, just the hobbies.  I just gave the existing routine up, thinking new world order = all new habits.  Quitting work really is like quitting sugar.  That “weird mental itch” was habit withdrawal.

Making the bed isn’t really about the bed. It’s about something much simpler—and much more important.

It’s about structure.

In a working life, structure is built in. Meetings. Schedules. Responsibilities.

In retirement? It disappears overnight. And when it does, everything can feel just a bit… off.

That’s why small habits matter more than you think.

They give you:

• a starting point
• a sense of control
• a way to ease into your day without overthinking it

And over time, those small habits become something bigger. They become the foundation of your new life.

Because retirement isn’t about removing structure. It’s about rebuilding it—on your terms.

If you’re trying to figure out where to start, begin with one small habit—and build from there.

Cheers,

Cynthia