| Trends Are You Ready for Daily Life With a Newly Retired Spouse? Four years ago, I was excited about my husband’s imminent retirement. I envisioned him cleaning the basement, repainting the house and cooking dinner while I was at work. Now he’s retired, and I realize the odds are better that the whistling forest animals from Snow White will drop by to maintain our home. There was no excuse for my ridiculous optimism. A quick internet search would have returned hundreds of hits promising “constant clinging” and “unhappily ever after.” One article warned that retirees must “find reasons to be kind to one another” lest we deteriorate into fisticuffs. https://tinyurl.com/yxz2fobv I’m Retired. What Should I Do Now? When you’re working full time, you know what to do with your time. But what are you supposed to do with all the free time once you retire? You’ve looked forward to this for years: time to pursue your hobbies, time to travel and time to relax. But what if it’s not enough to keep you feeling fulfilled? What if you need more? It’s a common feeling no matter where you are in life — doubt about what comes next. Retirees are especially prone to wondering if they’re living the life they really wanted and what steps to take next. Many have grappled with the same questions but found ways to create a happy, fulfilling lifestyle. Here are some ideas and suggestions that might help you do the same. https://tinyurl.com/y2aokl6z The Purposeful Life Is Healthy and Wise A sense of purpose is associated with a longer, healthier, and happier life. A British study points to the significance of feeling that your life has purpose, even into very late adulthood.
Furthermore, because many of the associations occurred independently of starting levels of purposefulness, the results show that you don’t have to be stuck throughout your life feeling you have no purpose. Fulfillment truly comes from the belief that what you do really matters, and it’s a belief that you can gain no matter how late you start. https://tinyurl.com/y6rzd72s How People Who Love Helping Kids Can Create Meaningful Retirements If you’re passionate about helping children, there are many opportunities to do it in retirement. Spending time around young people can also make you feel younger and purpose-driven. Take a look at how the three people below are getting creative and creating meaningful retirements by assisting kids. https://tinyurl.com/y5w45yzo Click to return to the Issue Highlights
Resources Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life by Louise Aronson As revelatory as Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, physician and award-winning author Louise Aronson's Elderhood is an essential, empathetic look at a vital but often disparaged stage of life.
For more than 5,000 years, "old" has been defined as beginning between the ages of 60 and 70. That means most people alive today will spend more years in elderhood than in childhood, and many will be elders for 40 years or more. Yet at the very moment that humans are living longer than ever before, we've made old age into a disease, a condition to be dreaded, denigrated, neglected, and denied.
Reminiscent of Oliver Sacks, noted Harvard-trained geriatrician Louise Aronson uses stories from her quarter century of caring for patients, and draws from history, science, literature, popular culture, and her own life to weave a vision of old age that's neither nightmare nor utopian fantasy--a vision full of joy, wonder, frustration, outrage, and hope about aging, medicine, and humanity itself. https://tinyurl.com/y6faqokw
Falls Prevention Awareness Day Date: September 23, 2019 The annual Falls Prevention Awareness Day (FPAD) raises awareness about how to prevent fall-related injuries among older adults. National, state, and local partners collaborate to educate others about the impact of falls, share fall prevention strategies, and advocate for the expansion of evidence-based community fall prevention programs. National and state efforts are published in NCOA’s annual FPAD Impact Report. If you would like to learn more about fall prevention efforts in your state, please contact your State Falls Prevention Coalition lead. International Day of Older Persons – October 1, 2019 We’re fortunate to have older people around us, whether they’re family, friends, or just general acquaintances. Older people are fonts of wisdom, experience, and storytelling. They can inspire us to continue striving — or warn us of dangers we’re unaware of. We should look to them for guidance whenever and wherever possible. Unfortunately, far too often we tend to forget — or, worse, downright ignore — the older people in our lives. That’s one of many reason why the International Day of Older Persons on October 1 is such a terrific holiday. https://tinyurl.com/yxnw8jor Top Ten Financial Scams Targeting Older Adults Financial scams targeting seniors have become so prevalent that they’re now considered “the crime of the 21st century.” Why? Because seniors are thought to have a significant amount of money sitting in their accounts. Financial scams also often go unreported or can be difficult to prosecute, so they’re considered a “low-risk” crime. However, they’re devastating to many older adults and can leave them in a very vulnerable position with little time to recoup their losses. It’s not just wealthy seniors who are targeted. Low-income older adults are also at risk of financial abuse. And it’s not always strangers who perpetrate these crimes. Over 90% of all reported elder abuse is committed by an older person’s own family members, most often their adult children, followed by grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and others. Review our list below, so you can identify a potential scam. https://tinyurl.com/pt6ddog Planning for Long-Term Care You can never know for sure if you will need long-term care. Maybe you will never need it. But an unexpected accident, illness, or injury can change your needs, sometimes suddenly. The best time to think about long-term care is before you need it. Planning for the possibility of long-term care gives you time to learn about services in your community and what they cost. It also allows you to make important decisions while you are still able. People with Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive impairment should begin planning for long-term care as soon as possible. Learn more about advance care planning. https://tinyurl.com/y2qdu7vo
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