Retirement Talk for Boomers, Seniors, and Retirees

According to a recently published book on retirement loneliness is a major problem. When our work life ends many of us have a hard time adjusting to a role where we are not required to socialize with others. We retreat.

We are always on the road to dying. It can come quickly and quite unexpectedly. We may have escaped death once, twice, or perhaps several times. If we are lucky Retirement becomes a possibility.

We retired people really want the same thing we have always wanted. We want to affirm ourselves in our daily lives. We want to have a way of self-actualization. We want to matter. We want to be able to choose.

This age of technology - it isn’t easy for some of us –. It requires that we learn something new constantly. That is, if we wish to keep up with the world around us.

Love trips. Yes, that’s right. Love trips. It refers to those trips like we retired folks take to see either our children, grandchildren, or our parents – people we love. If those trips involve airplanes it looks like they may soon end. Or at least they should.

Maybe we just need to establish a few hours each day for no worries; sort of a no worry zone. Or perhaps it would be better yet to just establish an hour a day to worry and then have the rest of the day to enjoy life.

“A sandwich board? You spent the weekend as a sandwich board?” My friend proclaimed his support for “Pro Choice” as a sandwich board. Roy earned a BA from Harvard and a PHD from the University of Chicago. Now he’s a sandwich board.

Where do you start when planning your own funeral? Why should you start? Funerals are for the living and perhaps the entire process should be left to them. But it does seem like some of the deceased wishes might be included.

The importance of priorities hasn't changed much from when we were young children chasing after kitchen cupboards and electrical outlets. We just change direction a bit. It is the direction that must be kept in mind. We need to know what we really value.

So here is my rant about alarms, alarm clocks, and the news. I don’t mean to pontificate – I just wanted to rant and think about these things.

As a retired person I might fill much of my time with weather and news. But, I can’t imagine anything less enjoyable. I’ve always wanted to enjoy life as much as possible.

As we grow older all family ties seem to be ever more valuable. The desire for family ties grows stronger each day. There is something about blood. We want a chance to sit down with our own son and daughter, and share in their lives and the lives of the grandchildren.

We heard about this place on the Internet where one could participate in a home exchange network. You agree to trade the use of your residence for that of someone else’s. The trade is cash free. No charge to members.

Several years have passed and regrets of losing my wallet are gone. But the memory of an elderly woman in black moving every so slowly along the water's edge remains as if etched in stone.

I pleaded the case for history. I argued that only by studying the successes and failures of the past can we hope to rise above the past and avoid the pitfalls that have entrapped our ancestors. I used the old map analogy.

Remember that movie in the 60s:The Flim Flam Man. What I recall is his basic philosophy that you can’t cheat an honest man. He always thought that the way you take advantage of someone is if they think they are getting a good deal. Like they think they are beating system also. That opens them up.

There seem to be so many advantages of aging that I don’t know where to start. But one that jumped out to me as most important was the ability to be a better judge of character.

"It is pancreatic cancer" a doctor recently told a fellow watercolorist who is an email friend of my wife. "One year" followed the announcement of pancreatic cancer: one year. How would it feel to get that kind of prognosis? It can happen. It can happen tomorrow.

According to the cult of happiness the last phase to be practiced is reflection. We look back and consider what we have done or what has happened and hopefully enjoy the memories. We just completed a road trip and we have reached the stage of reflection.

We decided to get an early start so that we might take advantage of the daylight hours. We do not like nor plan to be driving after dark. We want to see where we are going. We aimed for 8 am and were on the road by 8:15. The first problem occurred 5 minutes from home when I discovered I had forgotten my phone.

I am not trying to talk you into one way of road tripping or another. I just want to stimulate thinking about various ways to go.

When we drive out we always feel like we have seen Wallace, Idaho; Tonopah, Nevada; Arcadia, California; or wherever we might be. After all, that is why we are traveling.

We always need to have something out in front of us to pursue. I don't want to argue with that but I do want to pause for a few minutes and think about it. That is what this podcast is all about: pausing to consider what it is we are doing with our life.

What would we do if we retired? Everyone told us we were too young to retire. We had to work – it was a given. But after doing the math we found we did not need to work at a job. Feeling guilty about retiring never entered the picture.

Health decisions seem to mount as we move towards and into retirement. What to do? Where do we turn for advice? Most of the time, we can readily agree with our doctor. Other times, it just doesn’t feel right. We want a second opinion.