Dear LPG

I have not been retired for long and faced the prospect with very mixed feelings.  A colleague who I kept in touch with after he retired two years earlier told me that there are two ways of looking at your future once you have reached retirement.  He offered me the following advice…

‘If you feel worried about retirement, you are not alone. Actually, it is a very common feeling. You may have to struggle with your self-worth, perceived value to society and fears of boredom, and you might experience the loss of usefulness, sense of purpose, social relationships around work and even identity. Closing out your career and its associated income stream can seem frightening too as retirement is often associated with reduced income.

But being pessimistic will not help. Retirement does not have to be all doom and gloom and you can certainly think of many reasons why retirement can be something to look forward to. Think about all those activities that you did not have the time to do because you were too busy working. Retirement can be an excellent opportunity to take up piano lessons, to start attending choir rehearsals again, or read all those books on the shelf.

You should also consider that once you’re retired, you can probably increase your physical activity too. Go to the swimming pool, start practicing yoga or just have a walk. Spending some of the free time that you now have but did not have before fighting sedentarism and keeping a healthy lifestyle would be a great decision. And think about going to bed and not having to worry about that assignment at work that you could not finish. It sounds great, doesn’t it?

So retirement is a unique opportunity to interrupt one’s previous lifestyle and establish new routines. It is time to enjoy freedom and find new hobbies that make you feel happy. Retirement is time to enjoy wisdom.’

At the time that he sent this advice to me, I did not know what to make of it, but now with two years hindsight of my own. I feel that it might just be the advice that could come in handy if passed on by a reader of this website.

RB, Crofton Park