retirement adjustment

Five years – taking inventory

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taking inventory

Five years.  Wow.  I can’t believe it has been that long since I launched LivingLifeRetired.com.  So much has happened during my retirement these past five years.  I took a personal inventory and was surprised at the length of the list.  I…

  • Bought a mountain cabin property, tore down the water- and animal-damaged addition by hand, hauled out truckloads of pine cones and needles, cleared out a fallen tree, and had my she shed built.
  • Learned my mom fell at her home, was hospitalized and then she was moved into a nursing home.
  • Experienced some loving and sweet but also tough and heartfelt times with family members
  • Trained and volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for abused and neglected children in Larimer County
  • Read a ton of books and wrote a few blog posts
  • Worked part time as a substitute teacher in two school districts
  • Lost my sweet kitty Lily to old age
  • Joined a lovely group of women for a weekly Bible study group at my church
  • Endured an international pandemic
  • Sold my home, bought a home and moved to a town closer to my grandchildren
  • Began attending the sister church to my primary church
  • Reunited with a good friend from Amarillo, Gail, and two high school friends, Mark and Marie, through Facebook
  • Endured a few disputes with neighbors
  • Served as president of an HOA
  • Volunteered at Life Stories (CASA Program) in Weld County

While it is a decent list of accomplishments and growth, it also reveals areas of neglect. In taking an inventory I realized why I struggle to consistently write blog posts for this site.  I have had so much I wanted and needed to write about, but I just didn’t.  More discipline is needed to sit down and write.  In the future I need to put my many projects aside and make writing a bigger priority.  The lawn mowing and room painting can wait one more day.  It’s not easy because as a solo retiree, if I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done.  

Have you taken inventory of your past five years or even one year?  Try it; you might surprise yourself at your list.  I believe it helps to reflect on your past in order to help move forward in the future.  What do you want to do differently or less of?  What do you want to do more of?  Where are your priorities?

Thanks for following along with me these past few years.   I would love to hear from you and do more posts about what you are doing in your retirement. Please email me at LivingLifeRetired16@gmail.com.  I would love to feature your solo retirement.

“If you want to end your isolation,…

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end-your-isolation
riesphotography.net

you must be honest about what you want at a core level and decide to go after it.” —Martha Beck, best-selling author, life coach and speaker

It has been four years since I retired from teaching full time. Even after all this time, I still struggle with the lack of social interaction and isolation, but I’m working on it.

The high school I taught in was populated with 1500 people; more than many Wyoming towns. It was difficult to find alone time as a teacher. Now, in retirement, it’s just the opposite; lots of alone time. I long for something in between and end the isolation.

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LLR’s First Anniversary

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Retirement is very much about building a new life, mostly from the ground up and usually without much help.  That’s what makes it such a challenge.

Today, is the first anniversary of the launching of the Living Life Retired (LLR) website.  It is also my 58th birthday.  I was reluctantly invited into retirement two years ago when I found myself in an uncomfortable work situation with few options.  I took early retirement as a “way out” and a new challenge began.  first anniversary

Retirement is definitely an adjustment.  The authors of The Retirement Maze: What You Should Know Before and After You Retire describe retirement as having four phases: honeymoon, disenchantment, reorientation and stability.  After two years, I believe I have recently entered the stability stage.

“Through the process of reorientation, retirees eventually come to terms and feel comfortable with the idea of being retired.  At this point, the retiree has developed an alternative lifestyle that does not include work as a primary component.  In addition, he or she will have abandoned the work role as a primary means of self-definition.  New roles and patterns of living are likely to have developed, with routines and goals established to provide meaning and direction to their lives.”

Over this past year as the founder and author of LLR, I have learned more than just WordPress in an attempt to provide inspiration and information to the solo retirement community.  I have learned about myself and I what it means to be happy in retirement.  Spending time making memories with my grandchildren, corresponding with former students on Facebook, helping others in my neighborhood, writing, flowers,

first anniversary<This magnet on my refrigerator says it all.  The simple message is how I am trying to live my life in retirement.

What makes me happy on this special anniversary and birthday? Spending time with my three grandchildren while making memories, writing, photography, corresponding with former students on Facebook, planting flowers, helping people in my community, and hiking.  I thank God for these opportunities and blessings and I look forward to the challenges for growth ahead.

Thank you for being a part of it all!

 

“Retire to something rather than from something”

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retire to something
Donna Skeels Cygan

Prepare psychologically for retirement

By Donna Skeels Cygan / Invest in Joy

July 16th, 2017

“Is Sunday evening the best part of your week? Many recent retirees tell me they savor their Sunday evenings, because they are no longer stressed about going to work on Monday morning.

Today’s article covers how to prepare psychologically for retirement. Next month’s will cover how to prepare financially for retirement.

Mitch Anthony recommends that we strive to retire to something rather than retire from something in his book The New Retirementality. This may be a play on words, but it reinforces the importance of preparing for retirement.

The days when a man retired at age 65 and died at age 67 are long gone. We now have 25- to 30-year retirements for men and women. Retirement is a major phase of our life, and it is important to plan properly. Use the following steps as a roadmap to a joyful retirement.

  • Ponder your retirement
  • Add some structure
  • Embrace change
  • Plan something special.”

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Donna Skeels Cygan, CFP, MBA, is the author of “The Joy of Financial Security.” She has been the owner and financial planner for her own firm in Albuquerque for 19 years. 

Retirement Adjustment Stages

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adjusting to retirement

I get out of bed at 7:00 a.m. instead of 4:45 a.m.  Instead of driving 30 miles one way to work, I don’t go anywhere unless I want to.  I am home alone most days instead of in a public high school with 1500 people.  In the evenings, I can do whatever I want instead of grade papers or plan lessons.  I can even stay up late watching a movie. When I read the newspaper, I read for  personal information instead of cutting out relevant articles to instruct my business/marketing students.  I can see friends and family, go to the store or do housework when I want, instead of just on the weekends or during school holidays.  I have a sign in my home’s entryway which reads,

“I don’t want to.

I don’t have to.

You can’t make me.

I’m retired.”

Retirement is a different life.  A life I entered into June 1, 2015 and one I have had difficulty adjusting to.

In The Retirement Maze:  What You Should Know Before and After You Retire, the authors would say I am experiencing one of the “…four  phases that deal directly and specifically with retirement adjustment: 1.  The Honeymoon, 2. Disenchantment, 3.  Reorientation, 4.  Stability.”  One year after receiving a glass retirement clock from my employer, I believe I am living in the reorientation phase of retirement.

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