For those who have defined themselves through their career or their role as a parent, entering into retirement can be unnerving. Of course, there’s the joy of finally being able to slow down and take pleasure in an easier pace of life. However, some do find themselves struggling for purpose and unsure of how to spend their newfound time.
Deciding to take your retirement certainly offers a new chapter, one where you can put yourself at the center of decision-making, which may represent quite the difference versus how you have led your life thus far. Indeed, your retirement is your time to shine.
Prioritize yourself
It may well be the greatest mindset shift when entering into your retirement years: acknowledging that you are your key priority now. Gone are the years of having to raise children, and balance their needs with your own. If your children are fully grown, they are more than capable of looking after themselves! As such, you can now dedicate your life to your betterment and search for happiness.
Try to make sure you place your needs (and your spouse’s, if you have one) at the core of your decision-making. Your children will not resent you for it.
Indulge in treats
Likely, you have quite frugally managed your impulses if you have raised a household or spent your life working. Indeed, it is not very becoming for a parent or full-time worker to drop everything and disappear for a fortnight to a luxury island or fall behind on the mortgage repayments because you bought a sports car.
Now, however, is the ideal time to indulge in all the treats you would like to. Make the most of your flexible lifestyle and take that last-minute vacation. Splash out on expensive clothes, which will make you feel amazing and confident. Buy a huge TV screen so you can host family cinema nights. Do whatever you want! You can use small loans to support yourself financially, so don’t be burdened by the cost.
Embrace adventure
There’s a rising trend for “senior gap years”; where older, retirees are taking off on epic journeys across the world. If this is something that’s of interest to you, there’s certainly no better time to do it! Many are opting for organized tours across India, Africa, and New Zealand; places, perhaps, they wouldn’t have chosen to visit with the family. Remember to make sure you have the right cover in place before you leave, and you must state all pre-existing medical conditions in your insurance policy should you want cover on them.
However, you needn’t pack up a suitcase and head off on the road if you don’t want to; you can also seek adventure closer to home. Why not try a new pastime or hobby? Push yourself out of your comfort zone somewhat. Never been great at art? Then sign up for life drawing classes. Always wanted to learn archery? Nothing is stopping you now! The best part of embracing adventure is you never know where it’ll take you, or who you will meet along the way.
Look after your wellbeing
With all these new experiences and excitement, it can be easy to get swept up in the fun and forget actually to look after yourself. Ensure you keep taking exercise, visit the doctor often, and manage any nagging ailments with vitamins and supplements.
It is been found that in retirement those who become sedentary are more likely to fall ill, so keep your body and mind active. You will want to sustain this incredible new chapter of your life. So there’s little point pushing too hard, too fast, and injuring yourself: putting a stop to all your new favorite pastimes.
Invest in your happiness
On the one hand, you have got to treat yourself, on the other you have got to invest in your happiness. While there may be some crossover between the two, it is likely your treats will be more impulsive and shorter-lived, whereas investing in your happiness should pay off for years to come.
If you believe you would truly be happier moving out of the city and into the countryside, then that’s what you have got to do. If you want to go a step further and relocate your life to a new state or even a new country, that’s the commitment you have got to make to your happiness.
Your retirement is your time, so do what you want to do to make it happy.
Self-reflect and be true to yourself
You may have been waiting for your retirement for years; eagerly looking forward to long days in the garden and lying in bed reading as the day breaks, yet when the time comes, you don’t feel ready, or you start your new lifestyle only to be met with displeasure.
If that’s the case, you need to reflect on what’s not working for you. Consider keeping a journal of how you feel each day, and try to notice patterns of when you are feeling happier versus when you are feeling sad. You may be missing a sense of structure or purpose. If so, volunteering at a local charity or community initiative could be a great solution. Not only would it give you a routine to follow, but you will have the gratification of seeing your work pay off.
Indeed, you may even wish to take on a part-time job in your retirement. If you do, try to keep your involvement low-stress and informal. After all, you didn’t leave the corporate world just to become tethered to fresh demands!
Your retirement: your time
As you will soon see, there’s no one right way to retire. You may find your needs and wants to be very different from your friends’, or even your spouse’s.
The most important thing you can do is to listen to yourself and do what you feel is best. You have worked hard to earn these years by raising a family, keeping a house, and supporting yourself in your career, so make sure you give yourself ample opportunity to relish in the life you have afforded for yourself.
