All my previous posts have a common thread – the need for retirees to retake control of their lives. While working, raising a family and buying a house, there were continual demands on time, energy and finances which, in most cases, were essential and had to be met. Now you are retired it is time to look at all those constraints on your living and see if they are still valid. Let’s examine a few:
Children – are they still dependent on you? If so, why? If you reared them to be successful adults, why are they not living their own lives and making their own decisions? Perhaps it is time to stop doing favours and create some boundaries.
Possessions – are they all still necessary, or appropriate? As a retired couple or single person, do you still need to maintain the family three-bedroom house? Perhaps it is time to downsize and de-clutter. How about selling the family people-mover and start walking to improve your health? Remember: your possessions possess you!
Finances – it’s time to re-evaluate your personal costs and future needs. Is it still necessary to work part-time to make ends meet? If not, there are a thousand more exciting things you could do with your time. More funds than you need? There is a myriad of charities which would welcome your support. Do you really need to leave money to your children in your will? Shouldn’t you be enjoying what you have worked and saved for over many years?
Routines and habits – we develop personal traits and distractions over the years to cope with the many stresses of life. It’s time to examine these behaviours to see if they are restricting our new lives. Now is the time to develop new interests, explore new ways of living and build new networks of relationships.
Retirement is a unique time when it is possible to throw off the shackles of the old life and start afresh. It’s time to take back control.
Renaissance not Retirement 