As you think about your retirement life, acknowledge that "who
you are" is much more important than "what you do". This one
shift in your belief structure will enhance your chances of
having a happier, healthier retirement.
Hate change? If so, you're in for a rude retirement awakening.
Why? Because not since adolescence have you experienced as much
change as you will in retirement. Retirement is all about
change. Major change. Now before you run screaming from the
room, consider this. Change can be a really good thing. And, if
you're going to have the Rocking Retirement of your dreams, then
you will need to embrace change even if you can't learn to love
it.
You hear the word "retirement" and you imagine the room full of
admiring colleagues, the gentle retelling of the famous time you
messed up, the president's toast and, finally, the gold watch.
Maybe retirement will be the end of your work life. If so, this
is the biggest change you'll experience since birth. Your life
will no longer be about "What do you do?" And, that's actually a
gift. Retirement gives you the opportunity to grow into the best
possible YOU. "Who you are" is so much more important than "what
you do."
Of course, even if you do have the gold-watch experience, it may
not be the end of work as you know it. A 2003 survey conducted
for AARP found that many Americans between the ages of 50 and 70
plan to work far into what has traditionally been viewed as their
"retirement years." Nearly half of all pre-retirees (45%) expect
to continue working into their 70's or later. Of this group, 27%
said they would work until they were in the 70s and 18% said "80
or older," "never stop work," or "as long as I am able to work."
But if you're done with work, you will need to fill all those
hours with something. And the search for how you will spend your
time is a change unto itself. Wilma was an executive secretary
for over 40 years. She so dreaded the day she would stop working
that she did no planning for the inevitable. Always attentive to
her appearance, after retirement she devoted her life to
resisting the aging process. She primped and shopped and
beauty-parlored her days away. She tried Botox and had a
face-lift. She was exploring a breast enhancement when her
life radically changed. She was diagnosed with breast cancer!
Ironically, her excursion into cosmetic surgery led to early
detection and she was back on her feet in no time. But she took
life a lot more seriously and was soon the local coordinator for
Y-ME, the national breast cancer organization. Her involvement
with the group and other women with the disease became a passion
that filled her life with purpose and meaning far beyond that of
even her working years.
Another other major retirement change is location. If you're
going to move from the four-bedroom house where you raised your
children to an apartment in town, then everything is going to be
different. Will you be relocating to a warmer climate or moving
closer to the grandkids? Even more radical change. And if
you're headed for a retirement community, the biggest change of
all, because you'll no longer have the healthy advantage of being
surrounded by people of all ages.
For more information about retirement living options
download our "Retirement Re-Tool Kit Ebook" at:
http://www.RevolutionizeRetirement.com/revolutionize.htm
and follow link after link of ideas and tools to help you find
the perfect retirement location and lots more retirement
information.
So how do you embrace change? Begin by changing your attitude
from one of hostility to one of acceptance. Delight comes later.
Consider your daily routine. If you always take the same route
to the grocery store, go a different way. If you put both socks
on before your shoes, try a sock, a shoe, a sock, a shoe. Add
variety to your favorite activities. Try a new hiking trail or
even a new restaurant. "Learn to go with the flow. Everything
is changing around you all the time. Stop fighting it." This is
tip #86 from "88 Tips for Planning a Healthy, Happy, Enriching
Retirement Life." To find out how you can get the other 87
tips, visit:
http://www.RevolutionizeRetirement.com/tipsbooklet.htm.
If you really want a change, get a new relationship. If you're
single, this might be the perfect time to seek a new mate. But
if you're happily married or in partnership, you can still expand
your circle of relationships by seeking out new friends. Take
the initiative and make the call to the woman you really liked at
the last garden club meeting. Or attend that interesting lecture
at the club and see who else turns up. Go out of your way to say
hello to someone you don't know.
And, by the way, if you're happily married, this retirement thing
is going to change everything. There's more than enough truth to
the old adage, "I married you for life, but not for lunch." Take
a lot of time to talk over the future of your marriage once
you're retired long before the golden-watch day arrives. Plan
activities you'll do together or make a deal that you'll spend
some days apart. But whatever you do, don't let that change
sneak up on you.
If you're heading for retirement, remember what Bob Dylan said,
"The times they are a changin'." But since there's not much you
can do about it, you might as well put a smile on your face, open
your arms wide, and welcome newness into your life.
To get started, consider the biggest change you expect in
retirement and identify three action steps you can take to
help you embrace that change instead of resisting it.
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