You are growing old with some additions to be more meaningful.
There is no reason to stop living when you are alive.
The word retirement is often taken as a signal to be less active, less participatory, and less visible in the place and position you are in.
Retirement normally implies—out of a profession, away from business, goodbye to social activities, or something that induces isolation.
You need to relook at how to live actively, even if the compulsion of income generation, your key role in decision-making, and your activity-based identity have diminished.
Role changes as we enter the 20s, 40s, 60s, or 80s. You have to sync with those roles with many unknown threads. You get opportunities to optimize your roles, taking advantage of what you have missed or gained in previous roles.
Think about your whole life and not in segmentation.
It is your life. It is a gift of nature. It has some purpose. The purpose is implicit. Your big picture in mind might drive you to explore the purpose of living.
Now, enlisting the features that are added in life when shifted to brackets of less responsibility (old age), we identify ‐-----
Exposures
Setbacks
Failures
Resilience
Strategic thinking
Success
Expanding own abilities
Power of judgments
Scaling up of confidence
Shifting priorities
And many more, as prominent.
"You were never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you were never as bad as they say when you lose." Lou Holtz
While crossing 60, you realize you are in passive mode just because of age. It is a huge error.
Instead, realize that you are not less than anyone around you and keep going forward, changing lenses of looking at things.
It is a time to restart the games of life afresh, set fresh goals, devise your strategies, apply your rich experiences in your own life, and share with others.
Now you have to live with fresh equations of dependency, reliability, fragility, dignity, and sensitivity.
Every day is a new day calling you to do something different. When you are okay physically, mentally, emotionally, and innately, no power on earth can force you to be ineffective or rejected.
Add doses of positivity to your endeavors. It makes paths in old age more rewarding, in particular.
The world needs your special qualities to be exhibited. For this, you have to keep acting, as usual, in the field you have opted for.
Say you were a professor in your active adult age, but mainly for money. Now, after retirement, you can extend the same activity to impart benefit to the needy from your knowledge, studies, findings, insights, facts, clarity, and difficulties.
You can also change your track to something more meaningful and more vibrant in the emerging situations. It is your preference.
Your mind does not like rest and stagnation.
Stagnation comes when we live without dreams.
If you forget to challenge your minds, you can’t remain energized and motivated.
Normally there is no retirement in the lives of artists, poets, therapists, writers, thinkers, and people not in control of others.
Why stop when you are fit to go ahead? Ask yourself daily.
Old age is the time to practice gratitude in full measure. Examine yourself on this count.
Old age is the time to take advantage of mindfulness at a higher rung.
Be connected with people and talk to them to be updated and never to pass the time.
Be curious to know the realities. Free time is full of opportunities to complete your half-done reviews and research.
Self-reflection is a powerful tool to know what can be done next.
Remember that life needs more than peace, stability, recognition, livelihood, material possessions, and even empathy.
Ask yourself. Are you living under the influence of stupidity? If yes, gear up. You are not born to be stupid.
Accept you are old, and you have to be true to yourself. There is no sense in befooling yourself.
"We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained." Marie Curie
Start looking inward more to tap the unused potential. Looking inwards opens the door to what you can contribute further.
Keep life not only changing but expanding too. For this, stay committed to what you pursue.
There is no meaning in repeating what you did in the past in all meetings just to boast about yourself.
You have time to create something new; it may be planting trees, learning skills, visiting historical places, digging myths, or at least adjusting to new norms.
Being on social media platforms without a specific purpose does not allow you to be creative. It is a new trend to misuse time silently.
Check whether you have developed some harmful habits while scrolling on the screen. If you have time, go for better options like reading, learning skills, or visiting gardens.
"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine." Mike Murdock
Self-care is vital. Exercise daily. Have the right diet as per schedule.
Participate in domestic chores. No work is inferior.
Talk to people of all ages.
Keep things in an orderly manner.
Take sufficient sleep, not excess.
Be flexible when the need arises.
Build up the courage to know yourself and be authentic. Experience life more closely.
Without a clear sense of purpose in any engagement, you will continue to feel empty and directionless.
You have lost the moments of happiness while waiting for big things to happen. Enjoy moments of rainfall, grass in the lawns, kids going to school, sitting with friends exchanging old memories.
You have lost the opportunity to learn and unlearn on maximum occasions. Don’t repeat such mistakes.
Say hello to your old age. Take the days ahead as opportunities to do more. Old age is a privilege and not available to all.
