can you explain what a structured lifestyle is?
Is it getting up every morning?
is it going to store for groceries?
is it doing activities which they choose to do but don't like?

Is the issue "a trip to Abilene?"
Abilene paradox - Wikipedia

psych guy

If you can’t identify the structured lifestyle of The Villages, I can’t help you.:shrug:

I'm in the same boat, my life before here and before retirement was much more structured than it is now. Here you can do a little bit of thousands of things a lot of a few or a whole lotta nuthin. There is almost no structure in my life compared to 10 years ago. And I like it.


I don't even know what day it is the vast majority of the time.

More coming than going

ever since i retired, the only structure I have are

medical appointments (they come in bunches!)
grocery store/meals
what does coachk want me to do today?

does checking TOTV count?

For me it counts mostly as entertainment (to see who you can aggravate) and a little informational (when I'm reading villagetinkers post).

I rest my case.:BigApplause:

Of course (as already mentioned) there are several legitimate reasons for leaving TV. Then there are those of us that think we are getting too old and no longer have the energy to move and so we get on TOTV or a site like Facebook, You Tube or such and entertain ourselves. We watch sports, and “grunt, groan and grouch” about “things”and wish for “the good ol’ days” to return. Saturday or Sunday comes along and we have the ability to worship as we see fit. And it’s a great life but as someone said “it’s not permanent”! Oh, occasionally we still hit the little golf ball around too. Ain’t this a great country or what? BTW, we are all going to leave someday anyways. Fore!

and you get what you ____ for. Fine for well off they can just move, but for unfortunate or middle class they’re stuck in mud.

“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Yogi Berra

The Villages is the "elephant graveyard" only instead of elephants migrating here for their last days, it's people.

And pray tell, where are you going where there are no asshats?

Compared to NJ:

1. Cheaper
2. Better weather
3. Government that stays (mostly) out of my life.
4. People are friendlier. Yes, some are jerks. I stay away from those. I can count the time on one finger where I got paired with someone for golf that was a jerk. Most are lovely folks, with great life stories. Hope they think the same about me!
5. A crazy amount of things to do.

Sure, you can find someplace cheaper to live. But if that was my goal I would have moved to the middle of nowhere in any state other than the NE, West coast, Illinois (see a pattern here?).

All things considered, happy I made the move!

Everyone dies, no matter where they live. The statistical probability is 1 for all of us. You can spend your last days where you have an opportunity to have more fulfillment, lower costs, or some balance of both. But the end result is the same.

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee".

I don't know how US News does these rankings. If you look at the objective evidence of SAT scores, Florida ranks near the bottom.

You really are one who should not chastise another poster of not looking at objective evidence. If you take a look at the results of SAT scores showing participation rates you will see that Florida had 90% of students take the test while some states had as few as 1%. Average SAT Scores by State (Most Recent)

No doubt some small states like Connecticut and Colorado fared a little better because they have a smaller population and higher income. Florida did comparatively well compared to states that had similar participation rates. And if you consider how many immigrants and non English speaking students we have, I think FL does an excellent job.

I am very proud of my adopted state. You should be too.
(stats from US News)