Dear LPG,

In present times there seem to be so many things that affect the lives of pre-retired people adversely but it is generally considered that, when you hang up your working gloves, things will be better from the point of view that the stresses, strains, worries and responsibilities of work will be given up too and, even though many of us replace the afore mentioned worries with those of how we are going to adjust financially, and doubts about health and loneliness are not as apparent as all the free time to be had, and all the things that the free time will allow one to do.  

It has been some ten years since I retired now and, after the holiday and spring clean I promised myself, I think that I have managed to carve myself a daily routine that works for now.  There are gaps in my schedule for sitting around and thinking and taking a leisurely walk down to the shops when I feel like it interspersed with the visits to see friends and family members, and the best thing is there is so much less of a need to be on time for everything.  The problem is that having that freedom comes at a price and that price is that there is something very special about needing to be needed and having an obligation to be there.

It is a feeling that can creep up on a retired person really gradually until one day it is suddenly there; the realisation that if you don’t go to the day centre or make the effort to meet up with your friend this week it really won’t make a lot of difference.  You realise that you have missed so many appearances that you are not even missed anymore by the people who still attend.  It doesn’t happen to everyone but quite a few retired people that I know sort of drop out of society in this way. 

I just want to remind LPG readers of the importance of daily routine and that need we all have to feel included and needed, or engaged in some sort of project at all times just for your self-sanity. 

Of course it works the other way round as well.  If you attend a day centre or regular meeting where one of the people you usually see misses a couple of weeks, it is definitely time to take to be a bit nosy, pick up the phone and ask how they are.

There is something really special about knowing that your presence was missed and, for some, that telephone call or visit on the way home could be just the trigger needed to remind them of the importance of routine both at home and outside.

OH, Honor Oak

LPG found the following links that may interest….

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