Merry Christmas everyone! It really is the most wonderful time of the year! Les is with me today and we will read corny jokes!
Here are some corny jokes for this holiday season. If you have a 10-year-old kid, you can invite them to listen to this episode. They’ll find it hilarious (or not!) LOL
We’ll resume normal programming next year.
SOURCE:
We FAILED to keep a record of where on the internet these jokes came from. If they came from your site, we thank you and apologize at the same time.
Do you need to downsize your home? What about downsizing your life? Why are these things beneficial as we retire?
We are re-releasing our episode about downsizing. Our guest is Kathy Gottberg, a published author of six books along with numerous magazine articles. On her blog, SMARTliving365.com, Kathy explores ideas and experiences to help create a sustainable, meaningful, happy and rewarding life for herself and others.
Since turning 60, Kathy has become increasingly interested in ideas around positive aging and retirement. Learn more about rightsizing and why downsizing doesn’t have to be a downgrade in this episode.
On today’s show we discuss:
Rightsizing vs. downsizing
Why rightsizing is so beneficial as we age and retire
How to rightsize
What is rightsizing?
Anything you have in your life requires energy, time and effort to maintain. The beauty of rightsizing is it allows you to choose what’s important to you. Use your time, energy and resources on the things you value most.
You can rightsize just about anything in your life. Rightsizing is about getting rid of the things that don’t really matter and focusing on the things that do.
The key with rightsizing is it’s individual. It will be different for everyone.
Areas you might need to rightsize:
Old habits
Toxic Habits
Your current job
Advice for rightsizing:
Do it with a loved one
Get away and get quiet
Find resources to help you
How to downsize your home? Ask yourself these questions.
What are the top 10 things that are most important to me for the rest of my life?
Do I need it?
Can I rent it?
Can I borrow it?
Kathy firmly believes that if you take the time and effort to downsize your home and rightsize your life, then you will be better prepared to retire and better prepared to make all the choices and decisions in your life that will make you happier and more purposeful.
How to Deal with Social Loneliness after Retirement
Dealing with social loneliness after retirement is very difficult if you do not have people who cheer you up or support you or inspire you. Janelle Anderson is with us on this fourth episode of co-hosting the show and we will be talking about how to deal with social loneliness after retirement. This is also applicable pre-retirement!
Janelle works with women as a Certified Professional Coach through her business, Emerging Life Coaching. She typically works with women who are transitioning into a new season in life, whether that is from the “busy mother raising children season” to an “empty nest” season or from “busy career life” to the season of retired life. Janelle helps them discover a new game to play and who they truly want to be in this “third act of life.” Her work with clients includes one-on-one private coaching sessions, as well as coaching groups, workshops, and personal development classes.
Nourish your relationship
People are building relationships at work but they do not nourish that relationship outside of work. After retirement, that relationship dies and now you’re alone. It may lead to intense loneliness. Loneliness can cause a lot of problems like isolation, depression, and early death.
The Harvard Men Study
There was a study called the “Harvard Men Study” where they follow 268 men from their 30s to 70s to see how successful or happy they were. They wanted to see what are the characteristics of those who are happier and more successful in life compared to those who don’t. The one that came to the top is called “love-full stop”. In other words, it is love (personal relationships and connections).
Start looking for new friends to defeat social loneliness!
If you don’t have relationships now, you should take a look or make a list! Relationships that feed your soul, nourish you, support you, those are the ones you should be looking for. Church, joining clubs, classes are good places to find relationships. For the ones you currently have, ask yourself if you are nourishing that relationship. Are you still doing activities together outside of work? If not, then it may be a good time to start that now. Make time for your friends.
Here are some ideas where you can meet new people
One good place/website to meet people in your area is Meetup.com. I met so many of my best friends in Meetup. You can create a meetup group (with a fee, if you’re the host) or you can just join existing groups.
In Janelle’s case, her church started a dinner fellowship. She became close with a couple of couples because of that. What’s good about it is that you cannot choose who you’re going to be grouped with. They will be the one to choose it. It’s really cool because you get to meet new people.
Spend time with your friends
You do not have to go out with your friends every single day. You may go out one a week or once a month and catch up. Take turns in being the host. Janelle’s daughter does “neighborhood dinner” where she invites some of her neighbors so that she could get to know them.
Meet new people by volunteering
Volunteering is another great way to find relationships. There are 3 places I found where you can volunteer if you haven’t volunteered before.
1. VolunteerMatch.org – they’ll send you volunteer gigs near your zip code
2. UnitedWay.org
3. Points of Light.org
There are many places where you can volunteer. Check our episode about doing Seasonal Jobs.
One way of dealing with social loneliness is by doing seasonal jobs.
What to do with all the time you have after retirement? Janelle Anderson co-hosts another episode and we’ll be talking about Creating Life Balance after Retirement.
Janelle Anderson has always had a deep desire to help people develop their true potential and live from their true selves. Her career began in education as an elementary and middle school teacher, but after teaching GED preparation classes, she discovered her true passion was to work with adults. Over the years, she realized that her greatest satisfaction came from working with women, especially those in their mid-life years. Janelle loves to help them emerge into the fullest glory of who they are – to grow into their true beauty and live fearlessly, confidently and authentically.
A transition from working to retirement
Most people especially those who worked in an office are used to having a schedule. They are working from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM for how many years. Suddenly, it’s time for retirement. You have all the time in the world where you do not have a schedule to follow. What are you going to do?
You may have a list of what to do after you retire but after doing all those things, what’s next? You can do volunteering and help in your community. If this is not what you desire then you have to figure out what are the things that will make you happy. One example is learning how to play the tuba.
Creating your own schedule
You may create a schedule of the things that you will be doing now that you have all the free time. Example, tennis every Monday. You can also not follow your created schedule!
Create short-term goals every week. It really does feel good whenever you’re crossing out all the things that you have done. Janelle has this planner where she creates her schedule for the things that she will be doing for the week. You may check it here: PLANNER
Learn to slow down
Now that you have your list. Never rush or feel pressured in doing all of them, you need to enjoy every moment while doing it. Enjoy every minute of it. Eat your lunch and enjoy every single bit of the food on your plate. Do deep breathing exercises before you do something. This will help you slow down.
Creating Life Balance
You should schedule FUN things. Things that excite you, make you happy, and not think of as a task that needs to be followed. This will make you enjoy your retirement. Doing stress-free things also have positive effects on our health. Take note of this because this is one of the most important things in creating life balance after retirement.
Let us know what you think of this episode, “Creating Life Balance after Retirement”, in the comment section!
Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track…and helps with these show notes!
Les Briney, my husband, who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific.
Sharon Drury, who volunteers her time to work on transcription for us.
YOU for telling your friends about the show, leaving comments below, and sharing episodes you really like on Facebook, and reviewing the show on iTunes
Do you need to downsize your home? What about downsizing your life? Why are these things beneficial as we retire?
How to Deal with Social Loneliness after Retirement
Creating Life Balance after Retirement
