Many envision their retirement as a more or less complete disengagement from responsibility and the need to plan for anything; in other words, they want to go out “without a care in the world”. However, this can be extremely dangerous.
One of the first reasons is that after a little while into retirement, you’re going to get fairly bored. The days will start to drag a little bit. Once you’re over the euphoria of retirement after so long at work—which can be wonderful—it simply gets boring.
Playing golf three times a week might be just fantastic for a time, but after a little while, you begin to feel there’s more to life than just simply waiting around for someone to actually interact with you! The boredom can lead to depression, which is far more dangerous.
Studies suggest that if people who retire simply do nothing, they can face problems, including health problems. For one thing, it’s not good for your brain to do nothing. With prolonged inactivity, the brain shrinks.
Studies have also shown that men tend to suffer more after retirement than women because they’re still more inclined than women to have their identity tied up in what they do for a living. For retired men, it can be difficult to come across a social situation and someone says to them, “What do you do?” They’re lost for words, and they feel insecure.
So what can you do to avoid all this?
The number one thing you need to do before you retire is to give what your life will look like after retirement some considered thought. Quite frankly, you need to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. We are a long-time retired society these days. With the retirement age being around 65, our life expectancy now is well into the 80s and occasionally into the 90s.
So we’ve got a lot of life to fill. Taking time to think about with whom you’re going to continue your social interaction, the people in your network with whom you can continue to engage and keeping yourself active over that course of time are crucial.
Physical exercise is really important, but so is a mental exercise. Engaging socially can accommodate this, through volunteering for example—using the talents and skills that you acquired when you were employed and applying those in other areas, perhaps in the local community, can be very stimulating as well as fulfilling.
Whatever you can do to organise your life around being meaningful and having a purpose is absolutely the best way to go. If you have skills for instance, maybe in the financial area, there are local organisations that might be looking for someone to help out and volunteer, perhaps as a treasurer.
Some have suggested that with the increasing life expectancy, we should raise the retirement age and work longer. A better idea might be to encourage people to put as much thought and planning into their retirement ahead of time as they’ve put into everything else in their lives.
In the end, a happy retirement really is a case of keeping yourself occupied, keeping your brain active and doing something you enjoy doing—not doing something just for the sake of doing it.
Recent Comments