Retirement planning involves more than just making sure you have enough money to live gracefully. Retirement usually means there is a change in your daily activities. The challenge is to find activity that is enjoyable, enriching, and rewarding.
Many people plan to do a lot of travelling in their retirement when they no longer have the daily responsibilities of work or family. But all too often our circumstances change unexpectedly. Sometimes in retirement, we find ourselves with endless empty hours. It’s not just a joke that the only time grandma goes out it’s to see the doctor. Health issues tend to accumulate as we age, requiring more medical interventions.
We might have spent a lifetime, eating healthy, and exercising only to find that in retirement our body lets us down and the activities we enjoy are no longer possible.
Because of my failing eyesight, I am no longer able to do some of the things that I had hoped to do in retirement. However, I am learning to pivot and find new ways to achieve my goals in retirement.
For example, with the help of computer technology, I am able to continue to write this column. With the help of my friends and family, I am able to do a little gardening and participate in horticulture competitions at the Prince Albert Exhibition. Singing in the church choir is becoming more challenging because I cannot easily read music due to macular degeneration but the choir director provides me with online helps. I rejoice that I am able to do those things in my retirement, even though it isn’t proceeding as I had planned..
In my opinion, the great challenge of living well in retirement is to find things that you enjoy and find ways to adapt them to suit your circumstances. Many people enjoy socializing at the Heritage Center, dancing, playing cards and learning new things.
Many people fill their retirement years with volunteering. They are able to use the skills and knowledge acquired throughout their life in a volunteer capacity. For example, the EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts would not be able to function without a strong crew of volunteers.
I suspect that the reason so many people enjoy volunteering is because they feel they are being useful and contributing to the betterment of our community.
In my retirement, I don’t just want activity, I want productive activity, doing something that is useful.
In our community, several women spend countless hours knitting toques, scarves and mittens to be distributed through outreach programs. The knitting helps these women keep active and exercise their arthritic fingers.
The old image of grandma being happy just sitting and rocking is outdated. Today grandma wants to live her golden years with a purpose. She’s driving the grandkids to hockey practice, meeting her friends for aqua size, feeding lonely people at the nursing home and raising money with her service club. Grandma is off her rocker and enjoying life to the fullest with a purpose.
