I have stopped doing some of the things that used to keep me overly busy (I have ceased to give personal financial advice) and this has certainly freed up some time. However, full retirement, stopping everything, is still a step too far.
I have to admit, I still find retirement scary. I have enough money; the financial side of retirement holds no terrors. And I am not frightened by the need to fill in my days. Rather, I am scared of calling an end to something which would be final. Given what I do, it would be very hard once stopped to go back and start again. Retirement would be final for me, the end of my work and contribution.
Nevertheless, even though I have not yet lived in retirement, I have watched and advised many people who are retired or retiring. I have learned something from just about all of the clients I have had and even though I no longer see clients, I meet and talk retirement to people regularly.
I reckon that retirement should be done gradually, in a series of steps if possible. This not only allows you to make some of the social and family changes that are almost always necessary, but also to start to look at the expenditure your new life may require and, perhaps most importantly, to set up the investments that you will need to live on. My experience with many people is that they find portfolio investment new and scary (there can be a basic mistrust) but, when they have done it for a while, they become accustomed to it and their comfort grows.