Counting flowers on the wall, not the way to spend retirement
Five Common Sense Tips for You To Enjoy a Satisfying Retirement
It’s not about the money; it’s what’s we’re thinking
Before we get to the five tips, let’s grasp what the professionals say about us old-timers.
Here’s how those in Gerontology view us, old-timers. You’re the young old between the ages of 55 to 65, and the middle old is between ages 66 to 85. When you’re over 85, you are old, old. The people studying us put us in designated classes, how about that?
According to the Pew Research Center, the over sixty-five crowd makes up 13% of the U.S population. I thought there were more of us. Didn’t you think so? But by 2050, we’ll grow to twenty-five percent of our country’s population.
We can’t do anything about what percent we are of the total population. We sure can’t do anything to move us into or out of one of their categories except to age in place.
But, we can do activities making our older age in retirement more fulfilling to us
I’m seventy-nine, so from my vantage point of being middle old, I see at least five ways my days will be brighter when I practice these five.
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have never played one on TV. So these five tips are my common sense approach to enjoying a satisfying retirement. If you need a medical doctor or a psychologist's assessment, you know where to go, and it’s not me.
The five for us middle old people
1. If you’re married, stay married
There is enough change happening in our age group without initiating a change. Change might be necessary if there is abuse, either physical or emotional. Look at it this way. Marriage is a long-term deal. You know each other, and you have friends who enjoy your company. Why would you attempt to make a change at your age? Married people live longer.
2. Maximize the positives, cut the negatives
It’s reported mental depression increases by forty percent in retirement. If depression isn’t your battle now, it can become your nimbus.
Keeping a positive mindset in old age is paramount to our well-being.
Here are two ideas to keep depression at bay.
When I visited one of my older brothers, he had the TV News channel on all day, and it was depressing. Don’t you think there are more important issues to concern us than all-day news?
Second, choose books and articles to read that incentivize you to grow a positive mindset.
Become an intentional optimist. Christopher Bergland tells us that optimism stabilizes cortisol levels and reduces stress. I’m all in on reducing stress, aren’t you? It pays to keep a positive outlook in your retirement years.
Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results. Willie Nelson
3. Keep a schedule
“But, Richard, I’ve been on a schedule all my life. First during school days, then work schedules. I want no schedule.”
We’re all old enough to remember The Statler Brothers blockbuster hit in 1966. Counting Flowers on The Wall, aren’t we? It was a song about making pretend. Dressing up to pretend he was going out on the town but staying home alone. He watched TV, played solitaire, and counted flowers on the wallpaper.
I’m sure you agree that’s no way to do retirement. You know what? If you do not keep a daily schedule, you’re liable to switch on the TV with nothing to do. You might end your day, “counting flowers on the wall.”
Even when no appointments cloud our day, we are up by six a.m. Showered, shaved, and ready for breakfast. Then we have devotions, and I read and write, and my wife does her word search puzzles. This schedule begins our day, and it gets more interesting as the hours move towards nighttime.
Remember when someone else scheduled your time? Now, to keep sane, we have the honor of being our scheduler.
4. Who you spend time with will influence your happiness
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Jim Rohn (American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker.)
Invest in building friendships with positive people. Drop the negative ones from your social network.
Then, there are family ties. It is hard to keep our family together as one unit. Often, family disputes cut deep, separating us from one another. I know it's challenging to get along with our family members. We’re older now, and time is flowing downward in the hourglass. In our retirement age, now is the time to mend family relationships. Life is passing us by at the speed of sixty seconds a minute. So there is no better time to enjoy your family ties than now.
It’s not only the five people you spend time with but, more important is what all you are discussing. If the negative talk outweighs the positive, it’s time to find another group.
5. Accept what your reality is in retirement
Some of us have trouble accepting the reality of how our lives have changed in retirement. Notice I used the word accept; I did not say acquiesce. To acquiesce is to agree to take what’s happening without thought. We should try to understand how our lives have changed. But we’re better off when we accept the significant life-change of retirement.
Retirees often face a loss of identity, which is not strange. We’re no longer the person called to fix the plumbing; there’s no need to solve the company’s falling sales.
Nancy Schlossberg writes in Barron’s these insightful words we face as new retirees.
“That means your psychological identity, your relationships, your purpose. Those are the things that change as you retire.”
So, adjust, we must. To resist change will only increase our anxiety in ourselves. And make life miserable for those around us.
One way to adjust to retirement is to read how others are living this retirement. There is a place to read inspiring stories and humorous ones too. You’re reading this in Crow’s Feet. We old-timers are having the time of our lives writing about the wonders of older age.
Here’s the wrap
- Married or single at our age, best to stay put.
- Optimists live longer and enjoy life more, be one.
- There’s more to retirement than counting flowers on the wall.
- Make sure you’re talking with the good influencers.
- Retirement is a significant life change. Adjust.
So, you’re the young old, middle old or the old, old. There is a lot more life to live. Let’s enjoy retirement.
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