HELP, I'm Retiring !!

The transition from working life to retirement is a major challenge for many. Suddenly you are often alone and can or have to do what you always wanted to do.

Since I am part of it myself, this topic has become very important to me.

Before Retirement

In fact, everyone is looking forward to retirement. Because then the money comes in without having to do anything for it. This is new and very pleasant!

Also, you don't have to get up so early. You finally have time for your hobbies. This is how one expects retirement - a time of freedom and a better quality of life!

At least that's what happened to me - this February (2022) I retired!

….

And my dear wife double just after - 64 in June 2022. Let's see how our retirements will affect our lives !!??

Then It Comes - Retirement!

Suddenly she is there. You can tell that everything is calming down. When you lose your job, you suddenly lose the sense of achievement that influenced your self-esteem. In addition, the automatically numerous social contacts that have supported one's own importance are reduced.

Diverse business trips are a thing of the past - now you have time to use your cooking skills again. "But there shouldn't be an onion in there!" it says suddenly from behind the back. The woman is surprised that he has recently become so interested in cooking. She sometimes feels pushed aside. "That's my job!"

But she soon got used to it, she's really happy that she can cook with her husband. Depending on the man, there may be a need to cook alone.

Certain companies offer pre-retirement courses to their employees who are about to retire. That might help a little, but it usually turns out differently than expected.

Sometimes it is possible to create the necessary sense of achievement with small projects, which is important for the quality of life.

Have more time to shake hands again! What a quality of life! The quality of relationships largely accounts for our happiness. Now we finally have more time for it!

Continue Working Despite Retirement

Many already feel at 60 that their energy is slowly fading. You get tired faster and often less tolerant. According to the OECD, around 11 percent of those over 65 in Switzerland remain in some form of employment.

Competence is at its peak at this age. Why give up then?

Anyone who has built their self worth in correlation to work will find it very difficult to get off. They need the sense of achievement of their performance. Without them, they feel worthless. This can lead to depression and premature death.

It is therefore important to find meaning in your life. For many, their Christian faith can help. For some, schedules fill up so quickly that executing all plans will be a challenge.

Surprise your partner !! He/She deserves it. Anyone who has stuck together for so long, despite ever-increasing challenges - should also be honored for it. It's wonderful to make your partner laugh. Laughter is very healthy!

Tips For Life After Work

Finances are a priority for many people. After all, at the age of 50 you started to gear your finances towards retirement. Then there are various organizations such as Pro Senectute in Switzerland, which offer seminars where the social and human component is also covered.

What a privilege to retire with a dear partner! And learn together to deal with the time and finances constructively and productively!

Good Planning Is EVERYTHING!

You can ask yourself the following questions BEFORE you retire:

• How could I diversify my everyday life?

• What do I not want to change, what should definitely change?

• How much challenge do I need and how much should the rest be?

• What is the gain and what is the loss of retirement?

• What meaning in life makes sense then?

• How will my relationship world change?

• And what will happen to my finances?

• What jobs around and in the house will I enjoy?

• How important is my health to me? What can I invest for you?

• Is my apartment still suitable for the next few decades?

Remember: Exercise, water, a healthy diet and mental challenges significantly improve retirement!

Happy retirement!

And Suddenly We Are Seniors

It starts with the 60th birthday. Then comes retirement. At some point, our parents will need to take care of themselves.

Retirement

The earlier the family talks about growing old and the developments associated with it, the better. This is not always easy for us. There are important issues like powers of attorney and living wills to discuss while the parents are still mentally fit and able to make decisions for themselves.

This is the only way to talk to them about their concerns and needs on an equal footing, so to speak. If you wait until your parents are already frail and ill, it is often too late.

Retirement is followed by an age phase that is characterized by independence - the profession is usually given up - by being alone because social professional contacts are often lost and by a lot of freedom because most responsibilities have been handed over.

The great gift of plenty of free time overwhelms many retirees. "What am I supposed to do with all this time?" It could well be that you as a relative can help with a few carefully presented suggestions!

Care For Parents

They still exist, the children who recognize their responsibility and want to look after their parents. Very well!

However, when someone is at home looking after their elderly mother and is on the verge of a breakdown, nobody is helped. Let's not forget: Let yourself be helped - there are numerous offers of help and it is perfectly fine to take advantage of them.

Attention: The longer the caring relatives wait to get help, the more a rupture between the cared for and the carer can occur.

How nice when grandparents still feel fit and strong. The closer their lifestyle is to NEWSTART, the better their quality of life will be!

Retirement And Nursing Home

It is important for the aging parents to seek support early and to check entry into an old people's or nursing home.

Why is this step so difficult for so many?

Mostly incomprehensible for the younger generation: This step is probably the last move. You move away from familiar surroundings, away from many important social contacts, and you don't know what other consequences this step will bring.

When family members bring their parents to a retirement home, they often have the feeling that they are 'putting them away'. The topic of 'death' is also coming up more and more and can be extremely uncomfortable.

Another challenge can be that the relatives do not agree on how to proceed. Then there are the thoughts of inheritance, which for some are top priorities.

Less is often more!

In personal relationships - and especially with our parents - the focus should not be on quantity but on quality. So if you visit your parents once a week in the nursing home or in the retirement home, you don't have to put together an elaborate entertainment program every time!

Many have this need because it allows a kind of overcompensation to be processed. Such a ‘guilty feeling’ can be the attitude: If I can visit my parents so seldom, I must at least offer them as much as possible.

However, this demand on oneself can quickly lead to being overwhelmed and overwhelmed - on both sides.

How beautiful and blessed it is to accompany young grandchildren and give them a few tips for a good life!!

Tips

• Sometimes it is enough to have a cup of tea together or to go for a walk together in the fresh air. It can also happen that you sit next to each other and are silent with each other. Such breaks can do you good.

• It is also important that we can adapt to the situation of our parents. This can affect speed, speaking rate and volume. This does not mean that you have to yell at the seniors and speak exaggeratedly slowly. This can seem artificial or condescending to them.

• The needs differ from person to person. It is the quality of empathy (LINK) that benefits relatives and can lead to a successful relationship between young and old.

Life Begins at 50

Imagine a man, 75 years old, with dementia, unable to speak or show emotions, a shadow of his former self. Would you like to be in his shoes, dear Reader? Certainly not! A lot can be done to prepare the way for a better life! Of course, there’s work involved, but fun too! Are you in?

Here are a few tips on how to grow old s-l-o-w-l-y.

50 Plus is No Big Fuss

Maybe you’ve heard that the older you get, the faster time flies.  When we were teenagers, we thought 50 – year-olds were ancient. Unbelievable how fast we got to the big 5-0!

Best Agers

The elderly have become an increasingly important target group for many businesses. The world of finance calls them Best Agers or Golden Agers. It has been recognized that doing business with people over 50 is good business. A study by Mercer Oliver Wyman shows how the European Market could increase its gains with us old folks by about $15 billion. 

In many banks and insurance companies today, every second client is over 50. This makes us very interesting customers for many branches of business. We older models can now be seen in advertising.

Many Best Agers are buying houses or building condos. They care for their appearance by eating a balanced diet, dressing in style and doing sports. They also travel extensively and are always increasing in knowledge.

Time and Money

Retirees and clients over 50 have two valuable assets: They often have time and money. In addition, this age group is growing!

Exhibitions and other services are becoming more and more popular on the subjects of health and personal care, free time and relaxation, travel and wellness, house and home, medical achievements and specific investment opportunities for your capital, work and study.

The Famous Midlife Crisis

When we think of a midlife crisis, the first images that come to mind are sports cars and blondes. A classical midlife crisis curve generally follows on the heels of a more or less straight and narrow life. It is the visible expression of a desperate escape to freedom. Most people over 50 have already overcome that phase. 

Life Begins at 50

Life lasts much longer than most people think.
Between 20 and 50 there are 30 years.
The time between 50 and 80 is exactly the same - 30 years.
The difference is that at 50 we have a much better starting position than we did at 20.

At 50, you know things about which a 30-year-old has no idea.
At 60, you can say things a 30-year-old would be better off not saying.
At 70, you can do things a 30-year-old would be better off not doing.

...

Anstatt Trübsal zu blasen könnte man doch auch das Leben feiern ? Warum also nicht Inspiration pur und sich in der Reife des Herzens manchmal zum Fliegen bringen lassen ?

Some people begin to reduce their activities when they hit fifty. When the first pains come, they slow down, thinking they “deserve it”. The problem with that is, the more you slow down, the weaker you get. The less you move, the less you are able to move. On the intellectual level, the less you think, the weaker your brain gets. What we really need to do is fight the urge to slow down and reduce our activities, both physically and mentally. How can we fight back?

Do Something New! Remember Old Dreams

There are many fun and interesting things you can do to add joy and excitement to your life. You can read or listen to interesting books, join a club, learn to cook, take part in seminars to gain wisdom, go walking or do something for your health, make music, learn a language or travel. We will now have a brief look at the two last examples.  

Learn a Language After 50 – Possible?

There is no learning without motivation, and learning a language is no exception. 

The great advantage of learning a language after 50 is that our motivation is different. When we used to learn something, it was to satisfy our parents and strict teachers or to get good grades, but now we are internally motivated. Because we want to learn, the necessary discipline and stick-to-itiveness are naturally on board. Today many recognize the advantage of learning a foreign language for better job opportunities or for purely private purposes.

In addition, the many and varied life experiences of older individuals help them understand and sort the many rules and correlations involved in learning a foreign language. Many expressions in other languages are similar in English because they come from the same common language. If a person has already learned a bit of a foreign language in earlier years, they will be surprised at how much has stuck over the years and comes back with renewed use. The human brain is a wonder of creation, and learning a language after 50 might be easier than you fear!

Travel: When you travel to a new country, learn a few phrases of the language and experience the joy you produce in others when they see you are trying to speak their language!

Music Makes Us Happy

Here in my little town in Switzerland there’s a group called “Music for 60 Plus”. Individuals with various instruments get together and enjoy playing their favorite kinds of music together. Some actually come with the desire to fulfill a lifelong dream and learn a specific instrument. Doing this makes a positive impact on their quality of life.

Challenges – Notice Given – Notice Taken

Because many businesses are in a constant state of change, they often let their older, more experienced employees go. Generally speaking, it seems more difficult for people over 50 to find jobs. Employers often choose younger, less experienced people in order to save money.

But we older individuals can fight back! We need to hold on to our trump card: Experience. If we keep our minds flexible and fit by continuing to learn as we get older, we can become indispensable resources for our employers.

Retirement

Having so much free time on their hands is sometimes a shock for retirees.

Their “hard-earned retirement” can develop into a veritable nightmare. For this reason it is important to prepare in advance, and not just financially, for this phase of life.

Finally I have time and freedom! I can go where I want whenever I want! That’s the way many view retirement, BEFORE it happens! What that actually translates to in real life is often a completely different story.

What about self-esteem?

For those who have defined their lives by their work, retirement is an especially difficult time. These people have built their sense of value on their achievements. (See BLOG)

Even if all material needs are met and there is no financial need to work, to suddenly feel no longer needed is a painful experience for many.

The free time one has at one’s disposal as a retiree can suddenly become a vast impassable expanse with no structure and no goals.

How to Structure Your Free Time

Retirement is often looked forward to and dreamed about as a right that one has earned. We can see pictures of strapping seniors, smiling, with full heads of hair, riding their bicycles beside a lake. The truth of the matter is, many retirees struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide.

If you are more stressed in retirement than before, you are definitely doing something wrong. Burnouts and bore-outs are not reserved for the working class alone.

Spending time and energy on other meaningful activities while you are still employed will make the transition easier when the regular job ceases.

An especially difficult transition is in store for people who are in the habit of being reachable from work 24/7 or of checking their email every 15 minutes. The sudden silence is deafening. It seems no one needs them anymore.

Sometimes it is possible for retirees to continue working past retirement age. Part-time work might also be a good way to soften the blow.

Health – the Most Important Thing

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live the next 30-40 years being as healthy as possible? People who decide to do that must have a special interest and love for truth, because not everything that claims to be healthy is actually healthy.

A Prime Example

Throughout the world, people have been trained to believe in the importance of drinking milk and getting enough calcium and protein through milk and cheese. Many doctors still believe and teach this line of logic. The facts, however, if one cares to check them out, prove the opposite. It is a known fact that countries with high milk consumption also have a high percentage of osteoporosis and other unnecessary chronic conditions. (T. Colin Campbell, The China Study p. 217-222)

If You Want to Get (and Stay) Healthy

If you are really interested in a holistic healthy lifestyle, have a look at these important BLOGs: NEW - START - Plus.  We see “miracle after miracle” at our vacation and health center SONNMATT in the eastern Swiss Alps when our guests adjust their lives to live according to the principles described in these three blogs. Using only natural remedies to strengthen the body’s own immune system, quality of blood and emotional balance, healing transpires in every area. Praise God for these simple, natural remedies!

Here is a view of Sonnmatt (the yellow house) and its surroundings. Fresh air and sunshine make for a stronger heartbeat.

Members of the 50+ Club are a privileged class; they have many opportunities that others don’t have. The knowledge and wisdom they have acquired in the first 50 years can help them make decisions that will guarantee them a higher quality of life in the next 50 years! If they take these positive measures, they will be enviable indeed.