Get Ready for Retirement

Vital steps for a happy retirement

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Susan Kersley

What are the vital steps you must take to enjoy a happy retirement?

1. Make plans:

There are two sorts of plans: the big picture and the nitty-gritty details.

a) think about how you would like your life to continue after work; daydream about your ideal scenario because until you do that you may find you just drift along and nothing much happens except for not going to work.

b) as well as the big plans it’s important to decide however loosely what you plan to achieve not only this week or this month but also today.

2. Keep fit

You have a responsibility to your body to care for it so that it won’t let you down when you expect it to be able to do the new things you are hoping to do with it during your retirement.

This means at the very least to keep walking at every opportunity if possible; taking the stairs instead of the lift and making sure that at a minimum taking at least thirty minutes of exercise each and every day. This should include some stretching too. Doing this will keep your joints mobile and your heart beating healthily.

3. Keep healthy

Not only exercise but making sure you eat well with plenty of fruit and vegetables, organic when possible and available, lean protein, low saturated fat, low salt and sugar too. Also drinking enough water to keep you hydrated and limit the amount of alcohol

4. Be sociable

Since you may find you have less of common interest with your former work colleagues it is useful to do some things you didn’t have enough time for while you were working. If you have hobbies you’ve neglected or things you’ve always wanted to learn then take the opportunities which retirement offers you to explore new avenues and discover not only new interests but also get to know other people who share those.

5. Do your own thing

If you find that others are pressurising you to do certain things during your retirement and you really want to do something else, then be assertive and make sure that some of your week is for you to follow your own spirit. Of course there may need to be compromises on both sides which is fine so long as you do what you want some of the time too rather than spending every day doing something you really would rather not.

Posted in Retirement, Self Care | Tagged Eating for health, Exercise, healthy retirement, intentions, time; getting things done; just do it; retirement;, visualise life after work, Walk | 1 Comment

What is great about being retired?

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Susan Kersley

When you retire from your life-long profession you will find that your life will change in many positive ways.

Here are some of the great things about being retired. When you no longer have the routine of work you can: decide where you want to live and change your surroundings in other ways too:

Do you want to stay in exactly the same neighbourhood as you have lived in for years or do you want to downsize or upsize even.

It’s common to want to live somewhere smaller after retirement in order to save money on expenses. On the other hand having somewhere bigger might be your choice in order for friends and family to have a place to stay when they visit you if they live too far to come over for a few hours only. Maybe you would prefer to be near the sea, or in the countryside, or near to a bus route, or not far from the shops.

Retirement is a time when people tend to re-assess their home environment and decide what would suit them better and what sort of choices they now have.

You may feel you are not so stuck geographically as you were when you had to be near to your workplace so thinking about retirement might include considering places to move to which would not have been practical before.

Life is always about getting a balance between what you want, what your partner and family want, and what you will be able to cope with as you get older. Hence consideration about buses and train stations in case driving is not something you wish to continue in the long term.

You might consider moving to a different part of the same country or even moving to another country especially if you have close friends or family living overseas.

If you decide to stay living in the same place as before you can change your surroundings in other ways by re-arranging furniture; having a good clutter clear-out by getting rid of a lot of things you no longer want or need any more; changing the colour of the walls or flooring; buying a different style of furniture; and making your surroundings look different. it is an excellent way to mark your transition from a work to retirement, since you are entering a different and new stage of your life, you will be indicting to your sub-conscious mind that from now on not only your day to day routine will be different but so will you too.

Posted in Retirement | Tagged healthy retirement, retirement, tips for healthy retirement | Leave a comment

Top Tips for a Happy, Healthy Retirement

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Susan Kersley

1.Change If you want your life to be different then don’t delay. You can decide to change something today. When you change one thing other things will change too.

2. Looking after your body It’s more difficult to change when your body is overweight and unhealthy. Care for your own body more. Don’t poison it. It’s the only one you have and you want it to serve you for many more years.

3. Healthy food When you eat healthily your body and mind will be healthy too. You decide what to put in your mouth. Just think before you eat a meal and ask yourself whether what you are about to eat is of benefit. If it is junk then bin it instead of putting it into your body.

4. Drink plenty of water every day.
It is said that we need to drink about 2 litres of water every day. Water makes up most of our bodies and is vital for all the physiological processes to happen efficiently each day. Keep yourself well hydrated with plenty of water. Tea and Coffee will provide liquid and are OK in moderation but too much can be harmful.

5. 5 portions of fruit and vegetables
Fresh fruit and vegetables are healthy and contain plenty of vitamins and anti-oxidants. Have some at every meal. Fruit for desert instead or sugary and fatty foods. Your skin and general health will thank you for it!

6. Exercise Bodies have to move! Every day. Walk at least half an hour every day. Best if you can also include some stair climbing and some stretching too. Maybe some dancing? Jogging? Trampoline or swimming? Whatever you enjoy make sure you do it nearly every day.

Enjoy these tips because they will enable you to have a happy and healthy life when you retire. Not only enjoy them but also make sure you bring them into your life every day because they will help you to focus on making the changes you’ve been thinking about making in your life. Even though you may wonder what their connection is with the goals you have set yourself, practising them will help you achieve other goals more easily because you will be in a better physical and emotional state to do so
They are a sample of ideas and tips to get you thinking about your own life and making decisions to do something about those things you are not happy about.

Posted in Retirement, Self Care | Tagged Eating for health, Exercise, healthy retirement, tips for healthy retirement | 2 Comments

Retirement tips

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Susan Kersley

1. Make your mind up if you want to continue working after you retire but in a different way. If so what are you considering? You might want to continue doing the same sort of work perhaps working less hours, or doing something different such as education or journalism, television advisor or working on a cruise ship. What extra training and/or qualifications would you need? You could consider volunteering for example going abroad to offer help in disaster areas.
2. Decide whether you need to earn more than your pension for the lifestyle you want after retirement. If you’ve invested wisely you will have enough savings and income to follow your dreams and do whatever it is that you’ve ‘always wanted to do’ or regretted giving up when you had other pressures in life. You may want to downsize or change your lifestyle.
3. Many people find their creativity has been suppressed for years so whatever you decide, plan to do something creative too. You might want to try painting, sculpture, wild-life photography, golf, joining a choir, learning to play an instrument or something exotic such as belly-dancing or drumming. Perhaps you will take the opportunity to write the book you have inside you, landscape your garden or travel the world. There’s a world of opportunities out there for you.
4. Keep yourself fit and well by putting into practice all those things you know about but not done regularly before. Look after your body and mind by eating well and healthily, Stretch your body and mind by taking regular exercise and keeping your brain active with curiosity, reading and learning. How about an Open University course or joining your local adult education centre? Have you wanted to see other parts of the world? Retiring gives you the chance to take off alone, with friends or partner, with a group or as part of a charity challenge.
5. Don’t fritter away the days by doing nothing. Although you will have said goodbye to the stress of work, and retirement is a time for taking things easy, but to get new projects completed you must set goals, manage your time well and take action. Stop talking about what you really want to do, make your mind up about what is really important for you now and then take the action needed to get it done. Retirement is not the end of the road: it’s an opportunity for a new beginning!

Posted in Retirement, Self Care | Tagged retirement, time; getting things done; just do it; retirement;, tips for healthy retirement | Leave a comment

What do you want when you retire?

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Susan Kersley

Are you someone who hopes your life will improve on its own when you retire from work without you having to do anything yourself? Maybe you believe that life without work will be wonderful and you will find it easy to cope , or maybe you are dreading the changes which you believe will come from changing the daily routine from work life to retirement.

You may be waiting for someone else to plan your life for you but it’s important to realise that you have the power in to make the changes you want for your new life. Don’t wait for other people to tell you what to do but decide for yourself that retirement is a chance to change everything if you wish. You can decide what you want and be pro-active in making changes because the best way to initiate these is to start something you’ve always wanted to do because like it or not your life will be different and you have to come to terms that it won’t continue in the same way when you retire.

To enjoy your retirement you have to decide what you want, set your goals, and when you do that, others change in their response to you, when one thing in your life changes then everything else changes too.

So what could you do? Let’s suppose you are always wanted to travel but you’re not sure where to go to or how to make arrangements for your journey. If you know someone who has the lifestyle you would like then get in touch and talk to him or her about where they went, what sort of travel arrangements they made, what costs were involved and as you talk notice your reaction to what you discuss so you become clearer about which aspect of travel appeals to you and what you will do next. Is there something which you could copy? Notice how you feel when you imagine what would it be like to be him or her.

Then put what you learn about the essence of your colleague’s lifestyle that you admire into what you do and notice what happens, how you can do something similar and how almost without effort you are able to look forward to a new lifestyle as you begin to enjoy your retirement.

Posted in Goal setting, Retirement | Tagged retirement, time; getting things done; just do it; retirement;, tips for healthy retirement | Leave a comment

Getting things done after you retire

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Susan Kersley

You want to do all the things you planned to do when you retire and yet the tasks you’ve set yourself seem to be impossible to achieve. So instead of getting started you sit and think about what you plan and worry that you would never be able to do what you really want to do. You are aware how being older may slow you down and things which seemed easy a few years ago take longer to do now.

If the size of your goal scares you there is a simple way to make sure you achieve what you want simply and quickly.

What you must do is to break a large goal into smaller steps or ‘chunks’. So instead of thinking you have to take a giant leap and get to your goal in just one huge leap you can get there gradually, step by step, bite by bite.

Imagine for a moment that your goal was to climb a high mountain. You wouldn’t just set out one day and expect to reach the summit without any preparation, would you? No, you would plan the steps you need to take. The initial steps might be making sure you have the right clothing, equipment, food and maps. Each of these might take some time to organise.

Next, you might find someone who already knows the way to come with you, at least some of the way to point you in the right direction. Before you start your climb you would plan where you to rest or stay overnight on the way; what first aid equipment you would take with you and what you would do in case of accident, illness or other emergency.

Just like an expedition to climb a mountain, achieving any important goal needs preparation so you are all set for the journey and any eventuality which may happen along the way.

Let me help you achieve what you want. Start with an ABC strategy session to sort out what action you need to take, how your beliefs may be stopping you taking it and gain the clarity to know what to do next.

Book an Appointment to talk to me on www.susankersley.acuityscheduling.com

You need to be fit enough to take on your challenge and have the support or guidance from a mentor, friend or guide to accompany you along some of your journey for change. These are the small steps you must take to reach your goal more easily than if you try to take a huge jump and try to get from here to there in one big stride.