One of the important needs that working full-time met for me was providing me with a strong sense of identity, especially since I was a workaholic with no children and no hobbies. Recall the 5 important needs that a full-time career provides: Financial Compensation, Structure & Routine, Accomplishment & Utility, Social Affiliation, and Identity & … Continue reading Who Am I?
When I choose my word for the year to be Joy, I wanted to be happier every day. Transitions are hard, and I wanted to intentionally manage the roller coaster of feelings this huge change of entering retirement was creating in my life. Being the geeky researcher, I did a bunch of reading about emotions. … Continue reading Increasing Emotional Awareness
When was the last time you truly changed a life pattern? Stopped a long-term habit? Started a new habit, formed a new relationship, or learned a new skill? Changing patterns is not easy – and even a huge change like retirement transition doesn’t make creating new habits a simple task. You do not wake up … Continue reading Breaking through the Barriers
As I have read through many retirement books and blogs, seven core domains of life were repeatedly discussed as critical elements in creating this next life-stage. Many books about retirement focus heavily of the financial element, but I have found that the six others were as important (if not more important) to think about when … Continue reading Life Domains
This blog talks about creating a Life Possibilities List that will become your source of inspiration - to help bring clarity to what you want in your life (Life Plan), to create a daily/weekly/monthly plan, and/or to look to when you need a little push out of boredom. In the Retirement Transition Process of Reflect, … Continue reading Imagine the Possibilities
After reading many different approaches to planning for retirement, I created a process to work through and create a Life Plan for this next life stage. Why a plan? One of my favorite quotes is a Japanese proverb: “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare”. So my process builds … Continue reading My Process to Work through Retirement Transition
The social concept of retirement is the same age as the oldest Baby-Boomers, created in the early 20th century as a way to move older, slower and more infirm workers out of the factories. As Baby-Boomers today reach the traditional age of retirement, the term retirement, and all it represents, has too many negative connotations … Continue reading What’s in a Name? – It’s not Retirement
To work or not to work, that is the question - stealing a bit from Shakespeare. But it became a big tension-question as I created my future Life Vision. It took me a while to understand my answer to the question “Do I really need to work?” There was a HUGE assumption, from one camp, … Continue reading To Work or Not to Work
When I retired, a good friend gave me a shopping bag full of books about retirement. She knows I am a researcher at heart and did not have a life plan in place on the day I retired. As she is also a few years behind me in the journey, she joked that I should curate … Continue reading My New Job? Curator of Retirement Books!
In my exploration on Retirement Transition, I found myself delving into positive psychology. Positive psychology is the science behind happiness. I have always lived under the premise of something will happen by design or by default. You can either plan for it and design it, or it will just happen. Either way, you will live … Continue reading Happiness By Design
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