Retirement A to Z

~ patwdoyle11

I love lists.  I’ve been contemplating crafting another book that lists things (in words) that impacted my retirement journey.  I recently saw a number of A to Z taking stock posts, which is a form of listing. I’ve used an A to Z list approach before. It gives structure; I love structure. So, why not an A to Z for Retirement?

My challenges? 

  • A few letters are hard to find key words. There are the obvious tough letters of Q, X, and Z. But J and K gave me pause as well.
  • A few letters have too many possibilities! C, M, R and S have a litany of word choices!
  • Do I make this more personal, MY retirement Journey (ex. B for Beach, F for Foodie wannabee), or more generic, consider YOUR retirement journey (ex. B for Balance, F for Friends)?  I still am not sure the answer to that question and that is reflective of the current draft!
  • Then there’s the “don’t repeat ideas” desire, a pet peeve of mine in reading any self-help information.   Does a healthy living concept fit under A for Active lifestyle, B for Balance, H for Healthy, L for Lifestyle, or W for Wellbeing?  Does Intentional Connections fit under I for being Intentional, F for Friendship, or R for Relationship rework?   Is it A for Active or E for Experience or both because they are slightly different?  Is it Outside (O) or Nature (N)? Where does the concept of Balance between Being and Doing fit – B, D, C, R, A?  
  • Can I do play on words with alliteration in each word description?
  • Am I being too anal? 

So here’s my crazy draft outline for a possible (maybe never) new book – A to Z – My Retirement Journey.

A = Be Active. Get Out & About – It’s about Daily Movement, also called Functional Fitness. But being active can also be mini-adventures (experiences!) and connecting with others.  Just move your body, most days. With other people, sometimes. For me that’s cardio drumming, yoga stretching, Zumba dancing, beach walks, bike rides, and an occasional park walk or kayak excursion.  

Or is A for Authenticity? Finding you own true self.  Learning who you are without the social conditioning and the work persona.  
B = Beach. We moved here! Beach yoga, beach walks, beach shelling, beach water watching. Nuf said.  

Or is B forBalance? Being? Finding the right balance between doing and being? Or maybe even focusing on the Breath?  
C = Comfort. A balance between creating a Comfortable sanctuary to live/be in [allowing for hermit days of quiet cocooning – time to just be] and challenging myself to go outside my Comfort zone with new things with courage for the Someday I Wills, and connecting with people [socialite out & about – doing].  

So many C’s besides the comfort/cocoon/challenge/courage/connect in above. There’s Choices, Creativity, Contemplation.  C is a hard word pick as Connection, Creativity, and Contemplation are major aspects of my retirement lifestyle vision statement of Active Body, Connected Heart, Creative Spirit, Contemplative Mind!  
D = Date Nights/Day Trips – Being the Designated Planner and Doing things I love – Theater & Dinner Dates, Compatible Couple Dinners, Whine & Wine Chats, and executing my Tourist in Own Town list. Planning activities is about both having fun and maintaining relationships.  
E = Experiences – Invest in experiences. Positive anticipation. Savor the moment.  Reminisce when it’s over.  
F = Friend Connections. Intentionally investing in creating and maintaining friends both IRL and on-line.  

Or is F for Fun, Freedom, Foodie-wanabee, Functional Fitness, or Forgiveness?  
G = Gratitude.  Maintaining an attitude of gratitude; regularly journaling what I am grateful for.  
H = Happiness. Choosing to be happy and using the tools to make it happen – emotional awareness, gratitude journaling,  & practicing positivity.  

Or is H is for Hobbies as retirement gives you the time to start, explore, or expand on hobbies! 
I = Inner Work – Inner Artist/Inner Child/ Inner Critic – Allowing the inner artist in me to flourish (crafting, gardening, writing); healing the wounds of the inner child; recognizing and minimizing my inner critic and learning to listen to my Intuition.  Retirement provides the time to do personal development!  
J = Jolts of Joy. Continue to find joy in each day, especially in the little things.  
K = Keep it Simple. A phrase kept over from my work life, but refocused on de-cluttering and organizing life.  Something I struggle with, living with a hoarder, but managed in part with having strong life structure.  

Or perhaps K is better as Know Thyself.  Another phrase about coming into your authentic self in retirement.
L = Letting Go. Of toxic relationships, others expectations, bad habits.  

Or perhaps L is for Laughter, Longevity, design your own Lifestyle, or have a Love of Learning.  
M = Mindfulness. Keeping a journal, exploring Meditation, being in the Moment.  

Or is M for Mindset Shift which was huge in my retirement journey – Embrace self-empowering beliefs versus self-limiting beliefs; Shift negative self-talk to positive; Shift Compare & Despair to Observe & Admire; Understand triggers & use glimmers.  
N = Nourish your Body. Healthy eating every day; move, hydrate, sleep; get a massage; get appropriate health checkups for body maintenance.  Keeping the body healthy and moving.  

Or is N for Nature?  
O = Outside. Get out into nature – park hikes, beach walks, work in the garden, get on the water, or even sit on the porch. Take a deep breath.  

Or is O better suited to Out & About or maybe Optimism, since these were both specific choices I made in my retirement journey.  
P = Possibilities List – Not the to-do list, not the bucket list (both of those can be good, too), but creating a list of experiences that I might want to try, experiences to push me out of my comfort zone, or activities that sound interesting.  Mine includes Tourist in my Own Town ideas, places to travel, seasonal activities lists, and things to learn about.  

Or is P better as Putting Positive Psychology into Practice?  This is a key tenet of my retirement journey (and wonderful P alliteration)!  
Q = Questioning. Be curious; try new things, explore new topics, and have a Love of Learning, a key strength to keep the mind active.  

Or is Q about Quiet Time, learning to appreciate time to just be?  
R = Relax.  Recognizing that downtime is good and not a waste of time. You do not need to “be productive” every moment of every day! Take the time to read, do the daily crossword, have a long lunch, take an afternoon nap, or play with crafts.   

Or is R for finding personal Resilience in the face of life challenges, learning to Release self-limiting beliefs, reworking your Relationship portfolio?  
S = Synthesis – Or recognize your own Super power and figure out how to use it. Synthesizing is my super-power!  

Or could S be Spirituality exploration, Seasonal action plans, finding Simplicity, need for Structure, or simply knowing your Strengths?  
T = Travel. Plan travel from biggies (trip of a life time, bucket list countries) to mini-adventures.  

Or is T about recognizing daily Time abundance or becoming a Tourist in your Own Town, again both important elements for me in retirement.  And more impactful to me than Travel.  
U = Unique. Recognize & celebrate your uniqueness. Stop comparing yourself to others and being so self-critical.  
V = Values. Know your values. Keep choices in life, the activities where I spend time and energy, linked to my values.  

Or should V be creating your own retirement lifestyle Vision?  
W = Well Being. Continue to work on mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health.  

Or is W better for Wonder, Wisdom, or even Wander? Embracing the “Life is a journey, not a destination” mindset.  
X = X-Factor. Find my personal passion, my X-factor. Keep exploring new things and keep the things that bring joy. Be Authentically Me.  
Y = Yoga. A new thing I tried early in retirement journey and one that I continue to stick with – for the flexibility, for the core strength, & for the mental grounding.  
Z = ZZZ – getting enough sleep, no alarm wake-ups, mid-day naps.   

Every time I read through some of the other possible word choices, I seem to change my mind! 

Are there any words you think I need to add to the possibilities turmoil? Should I continue down this possible book path?

Picture: My newest duck for my Jeep. Just fun.

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Published by patwdoyle11

Life is a series of transitions and my blog captures my retirement transition journey.

22 thoughts on “Retirement A to Z”

  1. Pingback: It’s My 10 Year Blog Anniversary! – retirementtransition
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  3. I absolutely love your idea for the book! I think it would be interesting to discuss the word as it relates to retirees in general and then include some of your personal journey. I see your dilemma of some letters having too many options. I would like to see you include something on authenticity (either under “A” or “K”) because it is important to unearth your authentic self in order to truly enjoy retirement. It seems like our lives are so busy when working that we lose track of who we are and what we love about our unique selves. Retirement is the perfect time to nurture that. I would also like to see you include relaxing because many retirees, myself included, have difficulty giving ourselves permission to do that.

    I really enjoyed your first book and would love to see you publish another one. Go for it!

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    1. Thanks for your comments. It’s a challenge where to put various ideas – the idea of taking time to just Be (T or B) whether it’s relaxing (R), slowing down (S), taking time (T) to enjoy things… could fit in various letters. and yes is a critical learning curve for retirement! I tried to talk authenticity in X-factor, but think it got lost. Understanding my authentic self took time! More work to do to get all the key concepts in the list. 🙂

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  4. Your A-Z list makes for a full life. I went down the Z rabbit hole. Sometimes in life we zig & zag. Approach life with zeal. Zenith – is retirement the culminating point of our lives or just one more phase? Do we develop a zero tolerance for some of the trivia & nonsense of life? Approach life with zest, zing, zip & engage in activities that bring those energies into our life. Whatever phase we’re in, whatever letter you choose, get in the zone & be proactive & intentional.

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  6. B is balance in my mind as even in retirement, it’s so important
    C my choice would be connections as it’s so vital to have those as we age
    I could be inspiration as that’s needed for the inner creativity
    Love the choices for K, L, M, N
    Still thinking about S — sustainability because we all need to think about our choices and it can also be about how to make changes for life
    Anyway, I also love the A to Z lists and just recently did my first one. I enjoyed your list.

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      2. I feel we all need to think about sustainability in small and large choices. Your not traveling much – saves the environment. Using at hand items for crafts saves the environment and means less money spent on trashy stuff from China.

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  7. Hi Pat – if you don’t want to put too much pressure on yourself you could always create an e-book and offer it as a free download to your readers/subscribers. I did that with my AtoZ of Zen several years ago and it was fun without having to get too serious. I loved all your alternative word suggestions – maybe you’ll have to do several words for some letters so that you can cover all that retirement offers?

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    1. Leanne, great suggestions. I’ve not done the e-book approach as I’ve liked having the book in my hand. I still only get e-books if they are significantly cheaper than hard copies!

      Of course, my structured self insists if I offer alternatives for one letter, I need to offer alternatives for all letters. Your no-need-for structure self just shuddered at that insistence!

      But both are valid suggestions that I will put in my thinking.

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    1. Leaving my full-time career allowed me to explore so many other aspects of life and that’s what the list reflects. Some folks are lucky to explore these things while continuing to work.

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  11. Well, Pat, having recently purchased your book, Retirement Transition: An Innovation Approach, which I am really enjoying, and after using your suggestion in the book for an alphabetical list of Jolts Of Joy, I would say, “Go for it!” Your book, like your blog, is a generous offering out to the world. Both open up possibilities for reflection and positive change. Thank-you!
    John
    P.S. I may be commenting on your book in my own blog as I move forward with the work it is inviting me to do.

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    1. John, What a lovely thing to say “a generous offering to the world”! I’ve been toying with it and hope the comments here on the blog inspire me to move on it. It did take me 18 months to write Retirement Transition, so I know it is not a fast project.

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