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https://www.facebook.com/groups/1536432266706020/posts/1749359622079949 Have you ever laid in bed thinking about your retirement and said to yourself:
“I thought I’d feel better about my life by now.”
Or perhaps: “I thought I’d be better off than I am.”
Or: “I thought I would have travelled more or done more by now.”
Did you spend thirty or more years of your life saving and preparing for the day you no longer have to work, either at a job or in your own business? Did you hope to really start living once you are retired? Go on that dream vacation? Move to some beautiful location? Or take up that hobby or write that book you have put off for years? Or perhaps you found yourself in unplanned retirement, because of a job loss or a health condition, or burn out. Whether planned or unplanned, there is one thing certain, retirement at any age is one of the biggest life changes you have or will face. Retirement sits write up there with other major stressful events such as loss of a loved one, divorce and serious illness. I have a confession! I don’t do retirement well! In fact, I’ve tried it a few times and it wasn’t what I expected … if I even knew what to really expect. Here’s some quick lessons, you learn when you no longer have that job or your company to go to:
• Life can feel a little, or lot, empty or purposeless without your career or job goals.
• The empty nest starts to feel even emptier …
• Your once close connection with work friends and colleagues grows more distant or disappears.
• Your health and vitality may also be on the decline by now, unless you know how to revive them.
• Your pension cheques are a lot smaller than the pay cheques you got accustomed to receiving.
• Hard not to worry about money, with the cost of living shooting up while interest rates are low, stock markets volatile and pension cheques stagnant.
• Rising medical costs, don’t help one’s sense of financial security either!
• Without a regular morning routine and job or company to go to, your days can feel unfocused.
• And, sadly, we all have to deal with the loss of friends and family, who are also aging, getting ill, passing away …
Now that I have you feeling great about retirement (Not!), here’s the good news! Fortunately, life without your old job or business offers many benefits, which I will do my best to share with you on this page. You must have overcame many challenges in your life and, if you have made it this far, you have the strength and wisdom to continue to pursue your dreams. Just think, now you can live your life on your terms and on your timetable. You now have the freedom to follow your dreams. But you need a plan and strategies to overcome any obstacles, including financial, physical and emotional that might otherwise stand in your way. My posts to this page will be designed to help you revive your dreams or create new ones, no matter what age you are, no matter what health, financial or any other challenges you face and to help you build the life you desire and deserve. You may be wondering, who I am and what can I do for you? My career started as a daily newspaper reporter and editor. I learned how to observe life, interview people, focus on important information, consolidate facts and write about them in interesting and beneficial ways. I left my reporting career to get a business degree and went on to become a chartered accountant and a certified public accountant and spent most of my professional career as a management consultant, helping business owners and managers achieve their goals. I completed the first stage of my consulting career working oversees in one of the largest management consulting and accounting firms in the world. I returned to Canada and took up a new, but related career, as a financial advisor and stock broker, helping my clients save and prepare for retirement. After selling my investment practice, I tried retirement and we started travelling. We soon discovered that globe trotting wasn’t a sustainable life style on fixed pensions and unreliable markets. Therefore, I joined one of the largest providers of high quality senior living services and accommodation in North America as a community business director, where I saw first hand the challenges, financially, mentally and physically, all seniors face. Besides my professional career, I set and achieved many personal goals later in life, that some would consider pretty amazing. In my late fifties and sixties, being out of shape and overweight, I started running, first training for and completing 5 Km runs, then advancing to 10 Kms, then half marathons of 21 kms and finally completing several full marathons, of 42 Km. During this same period in my life, we moved to the Calgary area in Canada, close to the Rocky Mountains. I tried some mountain hikes, and learned that I love to hike and scramble up mountains, the higher the better! I’ve now summitted many of the mountains in the Banff and Lake Louise areas of Alberta, also the highest glaciated mountain in the continental U.S., Mount Rainer, and the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro. I accomplished all of this in my late 50s and 60s! I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had a serious heart condition, a malfunctioning value which when discovered had to be replaced. I firmly believe, that my careful but persistent training, conditioning and nutritional diet required to run marathons and climb mountains, helped save my life by strengthening my heart and cardio vascular system. I also proved to myself, it’s never too late to achieve your dreams! I realize most of you don’t plan to run marathons or climb mountains, but you likely do have many dreams that you have yet to accomplish, your bucket list, some of which you may have forgotten or given up on. On this page I share some of the strategies and info I used to re-invent my life after my non-retirement and regain my zest for life! I left my full-time position in the senior living industry a few years ago to start my next senior living adventure, which includes self-employment as a remote management consultant, expert personal and group coach and to devote time to sharing, on this page, ideas with seniors, or seniors to be, looking to live more and prosper! I hope you enjoy this virtual adventure and that it helps you thrive and revive your dreams!
