Well, we are at our retirement stage. A lot of baby boomers liked their work. A lot like no longer working! As boomers who are not politicians, we cannot do much to change the Australian economy or the rising cost of living.
A boost in income is nice, so many of us are being encouraged to redevelop our retirement, to resume working. Part-time work is perfect in our senior years. We gallop in, eager to share with the younger generations our years of knowledge and good life skills, and some employers do value the option of an older employee.
As a casual resume writer and a sometimes Zoom tutor, I can appreciate my clientele. While it’s currently a bit of a challenge to build up my client base, as long as I am able to, I shall probably keep working on redeveloping this retirement bunny.
Retired folk like us are either pensioners or self-funded superannuation recipients, so we all have to ski the bumps. For some, checking their investments is a hobby, not very proactive. If we woke up in good health, we are fortunate. We all have to set realistic goals.
Anyone can receive a shock diagnosis at any tick of the retirement clock, winding down to our twilight years. So, what are realistic goals for you? It might be to enjoy each day before we all end up in the same space.
Some people our age do wish to mingle as singles. Many seniors I know have the love life of sloths, male or female. But sloths are the great survivors. I can write, this is my realistic goal. I could apply an innovative approach to redeveloping the romance genre. I might create epic literature, about the “Sexy Seniors,” it would be a series of gripping, sizzling page-turners, for putting twinkles in the wrinkles of retirees.
We could all imagine this chapter, “can afternoon delights be done right?” This book would require practical research with wispy black lace lingerie. Being realistic, that chapter of redeveloping retirement literature may never be told here.
But I do have a retired senior pen-friend in the USA, she’s in her sixties and joined an online dating website. She was wooed by a senior male, and surprisingly, lived only 10 km away. They met in person, sparks flew, Cupid shot his arrow, and nuptials happened. Overcoming much family opposition, they were happily retired. Can happen.
But, as I previously said, anyone can receive a shock medical diagnosis. Now she is left with a massive pile of oncology bills for her late husband, tinging her happy memories. Most days, she too is complaining about the cost of groceries and bills in America. We are all dipping into our savings, like a lot of folks. Lucky to have some. Guess now that redeveloping our retirement involves limiting our spending.
We can stay as fit as we can, for as long as we can. Doing the garden and chores while we can is keeping us active and agile. All ship shape here. Housework does appear to have a woman’s name on it. I aim to have it all done by a certain stage and then explore my hobbies. I have discovered adult colouring pages, very relaxing. Easy to print off some pages.
It is “cool” to keep on being creative and keep sprinkling each other with kindness, compassion and hope for our economy to recover. There are lots of simple ways to redevelop our retirement days.
How can you aim to reset your retirement, to put a twinkle in your wrinkles?
Keen to share your thoughts with other 60-pluses? You can sign up as a contributor and submit your stories to Starts at 60. While you’re at it, why not join the Starts at 60 Bloggers Club to talk to other writers in the Starts at 60 community and learn more about how to write for Starts at 60.