The 3 ‘E’s to Addressing Your Retirement Blues
According to research, a third of retirees suffer from depression after entering retirement. Retirement, a moment to catch your breath and slow down, can also be a period of sadness, anxiety, and loss of purpose,[1] especially those who have lost a spouse, live alone, retired unexpectedly,[2] or are simply struggling to adjust. It is critical to acknowledge how you feel when you make such a drastic change. The following tips can help you cope with these feelings if they occur.
Ease into Retirement
Rather than jumping right into this drastically different lifestyle, you can find ways to offload your work commitments incrementally. You may wish to transition to part-time work and gradually decrease your hours. You can then use your newfound free time to relax and discover new interests. You might want to create a retirement itinerary like a lengthy vacation if you can’t transition gradually. This may help you in preparing and getting excited for your retirement life.
Engage with Your Community
It may not feel great to lose the purpose and social life that working provided you. While having free time is beneficial, if you’re concerned about what will replace the fulfilment you got from working, you might find great purpose in engaging in community sports, arts, volunteering, reading to children, or other activities.[3] Interacting with others and actively making new friends, can get you out of the house and active, building your networks and brining a sense of fulfillment.
Explore New Sides of Yourself
The saying “we are the sum of all the years that came before” describes how we grow older and become an evolution of all our experiences. As you age, you gain experience, knowledge, and memories over the decades. But you’re still allowed to feel like the same person you once were when those memories were made! Have you ever wanted to try a particular cuisine or visit a specific place in your younger years but never got around to it? Now is the perfect time to reignite that old flame and accomplish as many of your lifelong dreams as you can. By exploring your inner child, you can rediscover forgotten parts of yourself and form new memories.[4]
Retirement can be an eye-opening phase of life, exploring new and old sides of yourself. Retirement holds many adventures and learning experiences. But what’s important is that you can make the most of your savings so that you can afford this great time of enjoyment and exploration.
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