Most of the time when you hear people talking about retirement, it is about financial planning or social security.

My work and focus has been on how to thrive, how to plan for the retirement years and how to make retirement meaningful and fun.

It’s not good for your physical, mental, spiritual or emotional well-being when you have too much free time without some purpose in your life.

For many of you, you leave a job that was your purpose.

There’s a big void in retirement.

You all of sudden feel a big hole.

You begin questioning “Do I matter?” “Do I have value anymore?” “Does my life matter?”

I recently read an article about how 65 was designated as the year to retire because there were only a few years left of life.

That is not the case today. The average life span for women is 81.2 years and for men, 76.4 years. The Social Security Administration has stated that there are 18-20 years left after you retire.

That is too much time left without a plan, without a direction.

Yes, every retiree talks about how excited they are to have free time, freedom to do what they want, and when they want to do it.

Yet, after a few years, boredom and depression sets in.

In order to be happy and make the most of this fourth quarter of life, you must make it meaningful.

How do you do that?

Think about what you love, what matters to you. Is that helping veterans? Is it helping others learn how to speak English? Is it advocating for Seniors with housing, healthcare or job opportunities?

What are your skills and talents? Think about the things that come so easily to you.

You can help others.

What have you overcome? Is it an addiction, illness or financial crisis? Because of your experience you can help make other’s lives better. You can save them time, money and hardship. You have information that you can share from the pain and suffering you have encountered and the lessons you have learned. It’s a gold mind!

You can make a difference.

I have created an online course, Thriving in unRetirement, (thrivinginunretirement.com) that:

• Helps you realize what you have to offer.
• Helps you figure out what you want to do with this time of your life.
• Helps you make a plan for what to do and how to go about making it a reality.
• Helps you create your legacy.

It’s up to you to make this time of your life the best you can. And, you become your best when you share it with others.

Some of you might say, “I don’t want to take on a big project, I already did that.”

That’s what’s wonderful about this time of your life. You can decide the lifestyle and project you want to create.

My husband and I were talking with one of our friends in Tahoe. Her husband is soon to retire and she will retire a few years later. She said she knew she wanted to do something with dogs when she retired.

That opens up many possibilities. Is it a mobile grooming business? Is it walking other people’s dogs or house sitting for them? Or training therapy dogs?

She can decide to do that work for a few hours or a few days a week.

Whatever fits the lifestyle she wants that includes travel, golf and working with dogs.

She can decide how much extra income she needs or wants to create from her passion of working with dogs.

The need is there.

According to the APPA, (American Pet Product Association), Americans spent a total of $23.04 billion on pet food, $14.39 billion on supplies/OTC medicine, $15.73 billion on vet care, $2.19 billion on live animal purchases and $5.24 billion on pet services like grooming and boarding.

What do you want to do to make your retirement meaningful?

Taking it easy is not the way to a healthy, vibrant and fulfilling retirement.

Decide today to do what matters to you.

Make your retirement meaningful.

Not sure how?

Let me help you, dottiehager.com or email dottie@dottiehager.com.