It’s time to create new models for what being older and what being retired means for you and me. Let’s make it unusual but achievable.
As Henry David Thoreau said, “None are as old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”
I’ve been working on creating a program about Thriving in Unretirement. As I have been researching thoughts and ideas about why people are heading back to work I have been amazed at how negative and abundant the messages are regarding this time of life – financial despair, chronic diseases and lack of mobility.
Is that what you are looking forward to in retirement or in unretirement? Is that what you thought this next chapter of your life was all about? Why did we all want retirement so badly, and now it’s not what we thought it would be?
Where are the examples of people living fun, active and meaningful lives?
What are you intending this chapter of your life to be?
What’s your image of what your retirement will be like?
How are you taking charge of your physical and mental well-being?
You create your own reality. It’s the mental models that you picture what you want your life to be. Yes, you might be like me adding years, but that doesn’t have to mean your life has lost its meaning and purpose.
I saw this birthday card that said, “We start out with lots of memory and drive, then we become outdated, crash at odd moments, acquire errors in our systems and have to have our parts replaced.” It’s cute and it’s true. But, what if you and I can begin a new era of what is possible for people in this Second Act or Encore of your life?
We just returned from a Backroads biking and hiking trip to Yosemite. It was one of the most fun trips we have taken because we were surrounded by 5 other couples, we didn’t know, that love to explore the world in an active
manner too. It was exciting and refreshing to see that life can be fun and exhilarating.
The oldest person was 75 and the youngest was 58 (not counting our guides). The average was probably 68. Our guides were amazed at the energy of our group.
One day my Fitbit said I went over 27,000 steps and other days we all went over 23,000+. We climbed high on plutons (in geology, a pluton is a body of intrusive igneous rock (called a plutonic rock) that is crystallized from magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth), like Sentinel Dome for a 360 degree view of the park. We went out on the edge and tried new things. How about you?
Here’s some ideas for a quick fix to feeling older:
- Change the way you view aging.
- Find examples of people enjoying and living life fully that interests you.
- Read books that show you how to take charge of your life to keep you living a healthy life like Younger Next Year, Goddesses Never Age, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old.
- Keep your mind sharp and break the statistics. Take time to nurture your mind and body before disease sets in. An estimated 5.3 million have alzheimer in 2015, 5.1 over 65 and mostly women according to the website of Alzheimer Association.
- Become more active, get up and move. “A higher percentage of baby boomers are obese than in any other group in the USA, a poll carried out by LifeGoesStrong has revealed. Approximately 36% of baby boomers are obese, the figure for the two generations directly above and below them is about 25%.”
How are you pushing yourself to live the fullest life? What barriers do you need to remove from your mind about what is possible for you and your life?
Share with me on Facebook what you need during retirement or for unretirement to live a happy, meaningful life.