ATTITUDE IN RETIREMENT / BOOZE / KIRKLAND BRANDS / ROAD TRIPPIN'
Retirement Depression Or “Would You Like A Side Of Melancholy With Your Retirement?”
Life is full of ups and downs. It’s just the way it works. When you’re younger, what to us are small things seem devastating. Your 10th grade girl friend dumps you. You get into your first fender bender, and finally admit you suck at guitar.
The not-so fun part of getting older is that the bad stuff that happens are real set backs. You lose your parents, a sibling, or a friend. Maybe someone close has a major health issue or that 2nd shoulder surgery finally makes you get rid of your golf clubs.
What makes it tough as we age is we have developed stubbornness in how we see things and how we react to what happens to us. We’re slower to recover physically and mentally.
Retirement Depression Is A Thing
Now throw in retirement. You’re now loaded with free time and lacking that job as an escape to take your mind off your troubles. On top of that, we’re going through the normal processes of aging. The mirror has finally decided to tell us the truth. Your hearing starts to fade, blood pressure is up, and visiting the pharmacy is like walking into Cheers, “Norm!”
The important thing is, as your age, the better your mood and attitude, the better your health will be. Dr. Riley Moynes gave a wonderful TED Talk about the Four Phases Of Retirement. He focuses on the psychological challenges we all face when we retire and lays out his Four Phases of Retirement:
Phase 1: Vacation: No set routine - You’re Free!
Phase 2: Loss & Lost: After about a year, we start to feel bored. We’ve lost our routines, identity, relationships, a sense of purpose, and for some a loss of power. We then start to feel adrift, depressed and we notice we are declining physically and mentally.
Phase 3: Experimentation: When we realize we’re in a funk and need to do something, we’re entering Phase 3. It’s a time of trial and error. How can I make my life meaningful again? How can I contribute?
Phase 4: Re-Invention & Rewiring Dr. Moynes says the happiest retirees have shifted some of their efforts into some kind of service work.
Please watch this great video:
Four Stages Of Retirement - TED Talk
9 Tips For Combating Retirement Depression
This article from New Retirement lays out nine tips for dealing with depression in your retirement. It might be sadness, a lack of energy, or a COVID induced bout of melancholy, but it happens to a lot of people. Don’t curl up on the couch hoping it will go away. Here are the tips:
“Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears” Laird Hamilton
Last Minute Addition
This is a last minute addition to today’s newsletter. It’s a beautiful nine minute video from Booming Encore. Gary Goldstein had to retire early due to health reasons. The video is how he turned his health and retirement around.
Embracing The Renaissance Of Retirement
The biggest favor you could do for me is give me feedback on what I’m doing.
Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Good or bad, it all helps. Thanks
A Bit Of Humor
Health And Vitality
Alcohol
I know this is a dicey area to step into, but few are not affected, either directly or indirectly. This past weekend we went to a family wedding. Halfway through the night my Apple Watch vibrated and had the message “Easy does it Champ!” (A joke, but that would be a nice upgrade) But statistics show that alcohol is a growing problem with seniors. 2 weeks ago I wrote about age proofing your home and the risks of falls as we get older. According to emergency room doctors, alcohol is a major contributor of senior falls. So I want to share this podcast episode from Andrew Huberman PhD the creator of the Huberman Lab Podcast, it’s the #1 health podcast on Apple Podcasts. This episode is a “No Judgement” guide to what the affects of alcohol are on you body and brain and the science behind it.
What Alcohol Does To Your Body And Your Brain
News
Why are Costco’s Kirkland stuff so good?
CNBC’s Jim Cramer will buy only Costco’s Kirkland branded products. So do we. We love the coffee, tuna, seltzer, and cheese. What’s their secret? Costco convinces brand name suppliers to make stuff for Costco’s brand. What’s the difference between Stouffer’s Lasagna and Kirkland’s Lasagna? The box.
This is a good article that tells the whole story. (No samples included)
Why Are Costco’s Kirkland Stuff So Good?
Fun & Frivolity, and Travel
Rerouting - A Road Trip Guide
Since beginning our “Excellent Retirement Adventure”, we’re taken 3 extensive road trips. In total we have spent six months traveling the eastern coast of the US. We’ve seen the ruins of Atlantic City, the almost ruins of Washington DC, and many great places in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. Now we’re planning “Road Trip 2023 - With A Dog”.
It’s a great way to travel and see what the country has to offer. This excellent website lays out 6 excellent road trips that you can travel in various regions of the country.
A Quote To Chew On
Let us then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and wait.
Longfellow from “A Psalm of Life” via Austin Kleon