Acts of Kindness: The Last Journey
Published on Oct 18, 2016
Credit: Steven Aitchison
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Questing–Transform your retirement
“The Search for Significance
We have found in our research that all individuals feel the most satisfied with their life when they are on a search for significance, whether they acknowledge it or not. Americans need to know that their lives have meaning and purpose: we are not just passing time and taking up space. The success of Pastor Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life (it has sold 25 million copies and is the best-selling hardcover book in American history), speaks to our hunger for significance. The most mentally healthy retirees are those who have found ways to satisfy their search for significance.
In seeking to understand and flesh out this important concept, we developed a comparison we call adventure vs. quest. As adventure is an activity that benefits the person, such as playing tennis or traveling. Adventures are an important part of health living and are what most individuals look forward to when they think about retirement. However, an adventure has no sustainable significance.
In contrast, a quest involves one or more participants lending themselves to a greater cause. A quest transforms a poor or average retirement into a mind-blowing, all-fulfilling, energized retirement journey. The possibilities are endless and only limited by our unwillingness to expand our horizons. Examples of possible quests include:
- Regularly scheduled volunteering (individual or organizing a group)
- Mentoring someone younger than yourself (adult or child)
- Teaching classes to adults or children or
- Catastrophe relief efforts
Have you made any new year’s resolutions?
I try to make goals every year which typically include getting more exercise and learning something new. Below is an article I came across about leading a “purposeful life after retirement.” I think we could look at the list below as a list of possible resolutions. Which one could you add to your list this year to lead a more “purposeful life?”
How to Live a Purposeful Life After Retirement
Look at retirement as a time to do what you love and to try new things.
“Having a sense of purpose could add years to your life, according to a study published in 2014 in Psychological Science. Researchers from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and the University of Rochester in New York, tracked the physical and mental health of more than 7,000 American adults ages 20 to 75 for 14 years, and found that those who felt they had a purpose or direction in life outlived those who did not.
Once you retire and your children have left home, it’s easy to feel as though you have nothing left to accomplish. But older adults can still have career goals and direction, just in a different way, says E. Christine Moll, PhD, a professor in the department of counseling and human services at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, and member of the American Counseling Association.
The key, she says with a nod to Jimmy Buffett, is having an attitude of gratitude: Be grateful for what you’ve done and where you’ve been, and look forward to more of the same. ‘Keep doing,’ Dr. Moll advises, perhaps by following one of these 10 ways to live a more purposeful life:
- Join a gym
- Continue your hobbies
- Become politically active
- Try something new
- Go back to school
- Volunteer
- Immerse yourself in culture
- Get into games
- Become an emeritus
- Babysit”
Read more details and suggestions on how to live a more purposeful life
Happy New Year!
I want to take a moment to thank the 300+ visitors to Living Life Retired (LLR) who keep me writing. I appreciate you and wish you all a very Happy New Year!
This site was launched on August 22, 2016, and through the end of 2016 it has received visitors from the following countries:
- United States
- Austria
- Italy
- Germany
- UK
- Netherlands
- Russia
- India
- Brazil
- Canada
- Kazakhstan
- Philippines
- Australia
I appreciate those of you who have joined the LLR community by subscribing or by commenting on various posts. I would love to hear from all of you during 2017. Please let me know what topics you are interested in or any concerns you may have as a fellow solo retiree. Just fill out the comment section below and I will consider your concerns and ideas for future posts.
Let’s get this community going and start talking to each other! We all know it gets lonely out here at times. I’ll start by wishing you all a very healthy, productive, joyous, and activity-rich new year! May God bless you all in this new year!
Billy Graham, 98, offers hope to the grieving and lonely
Are you experiencing grief or loneliness during this holiday season? The article below and Billy Graham’s advice may offer some hope. Click on the Bowling Green Daily News link to see the original column and Graham’s three suggestions for dealing with the “overwhelmed with sorrow” feeling during the holidays.
Billy Graham says death is not the end for terminally ill Christians
by Jardine Malado, The Christian Times
December 28, 2016
“Famed evangelist Billy Graham encouraged terminally ill Christians not to give up on life and look at their situation from God’s point of view so that they may realize that death is not the end for them.
In his advice column in the Bowling Green Daily News on Dec. 20, a terminally-ill woman told Graham that the doctors have predicted that this year’s Christmas might be her last due to an inoperable tumor. She said that she is having a hard time trying to pretend like she’s enjoying the holidays.
‘How can anyone in my situation be cheerful at Christmas?’ the woman who is known only as Mrs. L.L asked.
Graham encouraged the woman to try to change her attitude and look at her own life from God’s point of view.
‘How does God see you? He sees you first of all as someone He deeply loves. You are not insignificant; you aren’t something for whom death is the end,’ the evangelist wrote.
‘Listen: God loves you! He loves you so much that 2,000 years ago He came into this world in the person of His Son, so you could have your sins forgiven and go to be with Him in Heaven forever,’ he continued.”
Is retiring abroad right for you?
Growing Number of Americans are Retiring Outside the US
Maria Zamudio, For The Associated Press
December 29, 2016
“Newly widowed, Kay McCowen quit her job, sold her house, applied for Social Security and retired to Mexico. It was a move she and her husband, Mel, had discussed before he passed away in 2012.
‘I wanted to find a place where I could afford to live off my Social Security,’ she said. ‘The weather here is so perfect, and it’s a beautiful place.’
She is among a growing number of Americans who are retiring outside the United States. The number grew 17 percent between 2010 and 2015 and is expected to increase over the next 10 years as more baby boomers retire.”
Japan experienced the biggest growth of American retirees — at 42 percent
“Just under 400,000 American retirees are now living abroad, according to the Social Security Administration. The countries they have chosen most often: Canada, Japan, Mexico, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Retirees most often cite the cost of living as the reason for moving elsewhere, said Olivia S. Mitchell, director of the Pension Research Council at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
‘I think that many people retire when they are in good health and they are interested in stretching their dollars and seeing the world,’ Mitchell said.”
Read more about retiring abroad
Childhood Christmas traditions
Christmas is my favorite holiday. It was a big deal and a special time in my childhood home on our farm in Iowa. Our family Christmas traditions were sacred.
- My family always had a real Christmas tree. Sometimes we bought one and sometimes my Dad trudged out in the deep snow and cold to find a suitable cedar tree for the honor of being propped up in a metal stand in our living room. It was prominently placed typically in front of the south-facing picture window so everyone driving on the gravel road past our home could see it.
- All seven of us kids decorated the Christmas tree. We loved it when our Mom brought out the old Christmas ornaments and we fought over who would carefully place the most special glass ones on the tree. We also had several hand-made ornaments.
- I think all of my sisters and my brother have stories about trying to find hidden Christmas presents. I know I always tried to peek when my Mom wasn’t around. If she found us peeking we were punished by having to stand in a corner. Sometimes all four corners of the living room had a kid in it facing punishment.
slc - My Mom baked year ’round but Christmas was an extra special time for baking. Decorating Christmas cookies cut out with the old silver cookie cutters was a delightful time. She also always made the most delectable pies. The crust was so flaky which was possibly due to using the bacon drippings she saved in a can next to the stove.
- For weeks, my siblings and I practiced for the Christmas Eve program at church. This was an annual tradition and the center stage of our celebration.
- Just hours before this church program I fondly remember receiving one gift from our Mother. The gift was new clothes which we would wear to the church program. As the fourth-born child whom nearly always wore hand-me-downs, a beautiful new dress was a dream come true.