A LITTLE PLANNING

When it comes to retirement, boomers are of two minds: those who say they’ll never retire, those who can’t wait to get out of the working game, and those somewhere in the middle in their thinking. These last ones plan to ease out of work on a gradual basis, which in my view, is probably the best way to go. With a little planning, they can taste a new life while still not letting go completely of the work they loved over decades.

It used to be people retired and did little—little planning, little exercising, little smiling. Things have evolved. It used to be you were old at sixty while now seventy is the new fifty. Baby boomers are more active than ever and, because of advances in health care and wide information dissemination, can look forward to a long retirement. In fact, it is predicted that most of today’s boomers will live well into their nineties. That’s a lot of years to do little.

I firmly believe that, like any other stage of life, retirement has to be planned to some extent. We certainly cannot plan every minute of every day, but there should be a guiding desire toward a goal. We are all different so goals will be different for everyone. A friend, who is about to retire, told me recently that he has not planned anything beyond playing golf as much as he can. That’s certainly a nice enjoyable goal, but there has to be more to life in retirement.

Just as we chose careers that appealed to us, that fit our personalities, our choice of activities in retirement should be based on what moves us, makes us feel good, not what friends or family feel we should be doing. I know a man who turned to photography in retirement and is having a grand old time. He was a chef all his life so his children thought he would spend his retirement preparing meals for them. They had trouble accepting that he wanted out of the kitchen to embrace a new passion. He’s the perfect example of a fulfilled retiree. Good for him, I say. A retiree’s mantra should be change for the new, the fun, the fulfilling.

 

 

 

The Good Side of February

February is not all bad, even this year when so far it’s been rather nasty towards us in North America. But we can take comfort in the fact that it is short, which means it’ll soon be over. Thank goodness.

            But there are other good things about February. For example, it’s when we can really feel that the days are getting longer. I don’t know about you, but for me that means that spring is well on its way. While in this part of the world we may be buried in snow in February, I would find it difficult to live in a country where there is basically one season, summer, and where the number of daylight hours never varies. That’s certainly the case around the equator where days and nights are twelve hours each, day in and day out. The fact that we rejoice in longer daylight hours at this time of year in this part of the world is cause for optimism, for looking forward to a new season, for witnessing renewal.

            They say that as we get older, we get more and more like our parents. I realized that was indeed the case in my life the other day. The sun was shining brightly and, while it was bitterly cold outside, I could feel the warming rays through the windows in the front of the house. That’s when I did what my mother always did on sunny days in February—I raised the blinds to let the front rooms be bathed in sunshine and warmth. Giving us an early taste of spring’s wonder is indeed another good thing about February.

            As I get older, I continue to appreciate the four seasons every year, even winter. The way I figure it February gets nasty because it feels its end is at hand so it puts up a fuss in protest. And that’s not all bad. After February’s nastiness, we’ll be that much more appreciative of the rebirth spring will bring.

           

 

The death of privacy

When I tried to explain to my grandchildren that, as I was growing up, black-and-white television was the norm, they simply could not believe it. After all they live in a world of high definition.

          We, of a certain age, have witnessed so much change in the last few years that it is difficult to explain it all to a younger generation. For one thing, I really don’t know how we lived before ATMs, but somehow we did. We all remember a time when we had to go to our own branch to get money. Amazingly today we can access our bank accounts from basically anywhere in the world. And it is difficult now to imagine a time when personal computers and the Internet were unheard of. Add to that today’s wireless technology that belonged to the realm of sci-fi not so long ago, and we can truly say we’ve come a long way, baby.

          If you spend enough time surfing the Internet, there is no information you can’t find. It can be very useful and helpful. But the Web is also a huge trash dumpster for everything from pornography to information on making bombs. I don’t think we should be ashamed to discuss the less-than-perfect aspects of technology with our impressionable grandchildren because you never know on what site they might end up.

          Today, personal mobile devices can do almost anything except perhaps make dinner. For a techno-deficient person like myself it can be overwhelming as privacy is quickly becoming a thing of the past. You could be anywhere talking to someone while another person could be taking your picture, taping your conversation and posting it all online in a matter of seconds for the world to see, something the famous and the infamous are finding out daily.

          With all the technology that keeps on marching at a mind-dizzying pace, the future of privacy is looming ever less assured, and I think it should worry all of us. Not only is Big Brother watching with listening devices and cameras everywhere, but so is our neighbor, our colleague, our competitor. I don’t think I’d like to go back to the time of black-and-white television, but since nothing is ever perfect in this world, we should all pay a lot more attention to what is being loss through the advent of greater and greater technology to make sure the slope does not get more slippery than sadly it already is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laughter

Laughter is definitely the best medicine, but especially when things are tough. The bad weather of late has been a source of problems and frustration for many people, but some simply took it in stride. A man who, I suppose, did not own warm headgear stepped outside during a cold snap wearing the horse head of a party costume. I wonder how many people gave him a double take wondering for a moment what specie was taking over the world. I’m sure he had a good laugh.

As we add years to our years we face new situations that may make us nervous or uncomfortable. Getting a colonoscopy is certainly one of those, but it helps to have a sense of humor about it all. A physician has claimed that the following are actual comments from male patients while undergoing colonoscopies.

      Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

      You know, in Arkansas, we’re now legally married.

      Now I know how a Muppet feels!

      Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.

      You used to be an executive at Enron, didn’t you?

      Could you write a note for my wife to say that my head is not up there.

      Take it easy, Doc. You’re boldly going where no man has gone before.

It also helps to laugh at other situations we face as we age. One middle-aged man who began to have digestive challenges that resulted in excessive flatulence kept his cool even when others around him made a point of not approaching too closely in case a “bomb” was released. ”So I cut cheese, nothing unusual or lethal about it,” he told a colleague. “Just a burp deciding that travel could be fun.”

Downsizing

According to professionals in the field, January and February are very busy months for selling and buying residential real estate. The reason is simple: people like to move in the spring so they start looking early in the year.

There comes a time in the lives of baby boomers when they consider downsizing to move to a smaller home, a condo unit or an apartment.  It’s a time of life when children are grown and on their own so that continuing to live in a large home is no longer suitable to needs.

Having done it myself, I know that downsizing involves a lot of planning. While living in a smaller place will mean reduced costs such as energy, property taxes, etc., you have to make certain your new abode fills your current needs. That may mean ensuring that you are close to shopping and public transit.

While moving and downsizing is a lot of work, it can be cathartic. Like any other major life change, downsizing can be stressful , but with proper planning it can be very positive. The idea is to take your time so that it doesn’t become overwhelming.

We tend to accumulate so much over the years. As a friend of mine says, the more space you have, the more you fill that space. Downsizing means that you have to reduce years of accumulation. I found that the most time-consuming task was to sort through personal papers and photographs. It’s a good time to throw out papers that are no longer relevant and to clearly identify and file what must be kept. As to years of photographs, it’s the perfect time to have them transferred to a digital format so that children and grandchildren can enjoy them for years to come.

As to furniture and clothing, don’t simply toss them out. What “good stuff” the children don’t want can be sold through antique dealers or auction houses, while good quality clothing that no longer fits can be sold through consignment shops. And don’t discount putting items for sale on Internet sites. For the rest, charitable organizations always welcome donations.

After a move, it takes a bit of time to adjust to a new home, but don’t discount that downsizing is a positive life transition. Free from the demands of a larger house, you will enjoy a new sense of freedom. I know. I no longer have to worry about such things as arranging the mowing of the grass in summer or the shoveling of snow in winter so that I have more time to devote to many more pleasurable interests.

 

Positivity

The polar vortex cold snap that hit the continent in recent weeks had an impact on countless lives. There was ice on tree branches and busted pipes resulted in spilling water becoming ice waterfalls, road conditions were accident-causing disasters, and snow had to be shoveled.

            Reading about all these problems and the people having to face them, it was clear from interviews that some people took it in stride: “We’ll survive, we always do,” to the more negative approach: “Why do have to suffer so much?” It’s clear that the extreme cold was no fun, but I think that the right attitude makes life more pleasant all around. Take my friend Wayne’s remark: “Sure it’s cold, but all we have to do is dress for it. Those living in warmer climates who have to leave their homes and take refuge in another country to escape war or famine are so much more worse off than we are.” Wise words indeed!

            A positive attitude can impact so many areas of our lives. I was reading recently that experiments have proven that being positive can have a beneficial impact on bone health. It appears that bitching and feeling miserable because of things we can’t change makes us produce more cortisol, a stress hormone that can negatively impact our bodies and even contribute to bone loss. Something for boomers to consider as bone health becomes more crucial with age.

            But that’s certainly not the only reason to get into the habit of being more positive. Research has shown that positive people have all sort of advantages over negative people. Here are a few: they are more resilient when facing stress and challenges; they make overall better decisions; in the workplace they get more raises and promotions; positive people have better marriages than negative people; and best of all they live longer.

            Things to think about as we wait for spring.