Structure changes, yes. Plan for that change and make your life what you want it to be. For me it is taking care of hundreds of deer in the winter and other critters the rest of the year. I feel entirely fulfilled. If anything I may have over-extended myself. I found a good sense of community near a small town. I am happier than I have ever been. I don't know how to help the person that wrote this article but I think they do need help.
Edit: For people that need the continuous engagement and activities are are entire cities that are based around retirement. [1] It's definitely not my thing but for those that always need something to do or people to interact with it's an option.
[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX4i8qprP2I [video][44 mins]
Yeah, I made it halfway through the article before I decided that I should have quit with the first paragraph. Sure, if retirement to you means sitting on the front porch, you’re going to have a bad time of it (or maybe not; you do you). It also means all you did was work, which doesn’t prepare you for retirement. Yeesh, get a hobby, go volunteer.
I didn’t retire because I didn’t like to work. I retired because work got in the way of other things I wanted to do. Not a single sentence that I read in TFA applies to me. Not a word of it. If it applies to you, I’ll be so bold as to suggest making a few changes in life.
It's very true that retirement means losing many of the fun perks associated with a high-flying career, but you have to have those perks in the first place.
Even here on HN, many of us are living fairly ordinary lives, perhaps working on cool technology, but I think even in our fairly exclusive club, not all that many of us have PAs and frequent high-class work travel, even at the apex of our careers.
For those who have all those things and lose them it can be very profound. For a lot of people in that position they spend almost all of their time working in some sense or other, and retirement ends all that. I think that's why people in super successful careers often end up doing advisory work or ending up on boards, so they can keep some of the perks with less of the commitment.
Then, even though you have enough money for retirement (or even if you don't), you are answering these questions simultaneously with handling rejection.
Don't retire and sit staring at the ceiling.
Get hobbies. Make friends. Volunteer. Do those projects you never finished (or started!) because you were too busy working.
Develop an identity beyond your internalised capitalism. You are more valuable than your 9-5 seat warming.
Yes, these things will slow down. That's the point of retirement. Just don't let them stop.