Many retirees are faced with a transition that they may not anticipate. Quite a few people look forward to retirement to get away from the grind of life, but they have a difficult time adjusting to their new normal. They find that they lack the structure, sociability, and goals of employment. Whether you liked your career or not, it’s a major adjustment that can leave you feeling despondent or listless.
To combat that, let’s do some forward thinking, so you’re not just retiring from your career, but you’re launching into this next stage of your life.
1. Consider what an ordinary, ideal day would look like.
Retirement can be filled with adventures and expansion of your life. It’s a time when you may be looking forward to taking vacations or having experiences that your working life didn’t permit. But that’s not likely to be the majority of your retirement. In fact, there’s going to be more normal days than not.
So, consider what a normal day will look like for you in retirement. What are you doing on a random Tuesday? What time do you wake up? Who do you socialize with? What would you be doing in the morning, afternoon, and evening of an average day?
Routines are what make up the mainstay of everyday life. And after all, if you’re retiring, you’ve likely been living a routine for a long time – the routine of employment. Shifting to a new routine can make the transition easier.
2. Consider what roles you still want to play in your life.
A career has the benefit of providing us with a place and purpose. That is, at work, you may be a leader, a mentor, a problem-solver, or a wearer of whatever hats your career had for you. Losing those preset roles can be hard because it can leave you aimless. You now have all this time, and you don’t know what to do with it.
Are there any roles that you find appealing for retirement? You may find that your wisdom and skill set are incredibly valuable in different circles. For example, there are a lot of non-profit organizations and charities that need experienced people from different industries to help chair their boards. Volunteer work in general can provide socialization, structure, and other roles to fill.
You may even find comfort in roles given by a new hobby, like taking up a craft. A friend of mine regularly participates in an older adults’ woodshop where retired people gather who want to get into woodworking. They have teachers who cycle in and out, and they learn how to do woodworking and build things for the community, like wheelchair ramps and stairs.
3. Consider all the things that you didn’t have time for in your working years.
You devoted a significant part of your life to your career, and maybe to your family. In retirement, you’ll hopefully have much more time available, so it’s okay to start being a little selfish. What are the things you wanted to do that you weren’t able to because of your previous employment?
Consider the interests that you set aside out of practicality years ago. Maybe it’s art, or traveling, or learning a new skill, or even going back to college to continue your education. There are plenty of retirees who go back to school just to keep learning and keep their minds sharp.
A friend of my family was like that. He was in his 80s and had been attending at least a college course or two almost every semester since he graduated from college many years before. He highly valued knowledge and education, and could never learn enough. The man has a ridiculous number of Associate’s degrees on top of his primary degrees, and takes the term life-long learner to new levels. He also does tutoring work, which helps with his socialization and earns a few extra dollars.
4. Consider creating an ongoing project to help keep you busy.
The great thing about having a bunch of free time is that you can look at bigger projects to work on that may provide fulfillment for you. And the benefit of an ongoing project is that it helps to stave off boredom in retirement by giving you something you can regularly dip into.
You could learn a new language for when you decide to travel. Genealogy is a popular direction, too, because so many people value knowing their heritage and where they came from.
Maybe you want to get into home improvement to help improve the quality and comfort of your home. There’s quite a lot to be happy about when you’re completing the work with your own two hands. Of course, not everything is suitable for the average DIYer, but there are plenty of projects you could work on. Landscaping is another popular choice.
You might also consider writing a memoir of your life for your family to hang on to. That way, they’ll be able to look back on your life and experiences and learn from your wisdom.
5. Consider what kind of social life you want.
Maintaining a social life in retirement can be a bit more complicated than it seems at first. Many people underestimate just how much they need socialization once they are no longer in the workplace. Most careers force you to be around other people, whether you like it or not. The brain fires off a bunch of endorphins when you’re socializing, which you may not realize is happening at the time.
Then, when you retire, you may find yourself lonely or even depressed because you don’t have those regular connections. That’s why it’s a good idea to consider how you’ll socialize with others when you no longer have that built-in social network. As Everyday Health shares, loneliness causes depression, and depression contributes to isolation, so it often just spirals from there without a proactive plan of action.
6. Consider what kind of physical habits will keep you healthy.
When people set goals, they are often too abstract and indirect. For example, it’s a nice idea to want to stay healthy, but what does “stay healthy” actually mean? What kind of habits can you build to replace whatever lack of exercise you’ll get from retirement? Maybe you’re someone who spent a great deal of time working on your feet, running around your place of employment. If so, you’re going to lose a lot of steps per day once you retire, and that is exercise.
As such, it’s a good idea to consider what kind of activities can take their place. Maybe it would be a good idea to take up an older adult’s sporting activity, which may be available through local sports or community centers. Or scheduling a daily walk as part of your regular routine. Perhaps, if you have the means, it could be buying a treadmill to walk on in the morning before you start your day.
By developing proactive habits, you’re more likely to maintain your health. That’s important because it will slow down the degeneration of your muscles, help you stay flexible, and promote recovery if you get injured.
7. Consider who you want to be in this new stage of your life.
As you approach retirement, a whole new world of choices becomes available to you. Hopefully, you now have the extra time and money to craft yourself a retirement that you look forward to. Take the time to consider what kind of person you want to be moving forward.
Maybe you want to amp up the fun and spend more time with the kids and grandkids. It could be that you’re ready to travel, now that you’re not tied down to your everyday schedule. Maybe you want to reinvent yourself as an artist and dive further back into art that you left behind so many years ago.
Who do you want to be? What speaks to you? What calls to you? Is there anything that lights a flame in your soul? That piques your interest? Maybe it’s time to embrace that.
Final thoughts…
A little bit of thinking ahead and planning goes a long way. You now have the time and ability to craft the kind of life you want after finally reaching your retirement. Not everyone is so fortunate as to have come from a career that they loved, but you’re free from that now.
Instead, take the time to think about who you want to be after retirement, and about a year after retirement. That way, you can make the plan to retire to your new life, rather than just from your career.
