Clarice Santa
As the baby boomers approach retirement, many are searching for ideas that will assist them in preparing for the rest of their lives. Should they wait until retirement is upon them, or should they begin preparing today?
Remembering that you may live well into your 80’s and 90’s, you want to be prepared to follow a course that you yourself chart. It seems the only sensible thing to do.
If you are a working adult, there are aspects of your retirement that you should be planning for now. How will you be able to pay for your needs and wants during the final 1/3 of your life?
It would also be prudent to nurture a healthy body and mind. Being knowledgeable about healthy eating habits and practicing them is certainly a good place to start. Are you making exercise and fitness a lifelong priority? The earlier that you begin to eat well and exercise, the greater will be the expectation of a longer and more fulfilling retirement.
Your pre-retirement years are usually goal-oriented. Your career requires you to meet goals that are set for you or by you. You also take on a variety of challenges. It is by meeting or excelling in your goals and challenges that you are motivated to move forward. You flourish when you feel a sense of achievement. In retirement, you will also have the need for personal goals and challenges. Having the freedom to choose them, along with the element of flexibility to achieve them, will be especially rewarding.
Your transition into retirement will impact you socially and emotionally as well. You will have many choices to make. Some of those choices will be for a time when you are active and healthy. Others will ensure that your final days are dealt with in a manner of your choosing.
Clarice Santa grew up in rural Saskatchewan during a time that was sandwiched between pioneer conditions and modern times. It is here where her interest about aging and retirement began to take shape.
By living near and at times with her grandparents, she was able to observe many of the challenges of aging. The amenities that we now take for granted were not part of those early experiences. The fresh water was in a near-by well, the bathroom was a short distance from the house and the firewood needed to be carried indoors. The lack of amenities impacted her aging grandparents’ comfort in an unforgettable way.
After she moved away from home and as her parents began getting older, she was impressed by their community involvement and their handling of age- related issues. They continued to contribute in ways that were significant. They participated in their community both as leaders and participants in a variety of activities and organizations.
Throughout her life, Clarice has been surrounded by a family who has been creatively, intellectually and physically active, in some cases into their 90’s.
Her parents and grandparents were good role models for a healthy attitude for life. Her paternal grandmother, when in her early 90’s, was asked why she was not using a light-weight snow shovel that was purchased for her. She remarked that she would use it when she got old. Her youthful thinking demonstrated a healthy attitude and served as a model for her family.
As Clarice approached retirement from her career in teaching, she began to implement some of the ideas that she thought would help her transition successfully into the next phase of her life.
Since her retirement she has become a grandmother, has volunteered with two local museums, is a part-time substitute teacher, has become a Toastmaster, has traveled to numerous countries and has scrap booked, to name a few.
Clarice and her husband Les live in Southern Alberta, Canada.
Being Proactive (a summary)
Being prepared for the milestones in your life is not only wise but imperative. Can you imagine not preparing for a major vacation, a child’s first day and year at school, your wedding, a move to a new job or a move to a new location far away from your family? Why should retirement be any different?
What is the very best that you can do? You can be proactive. You must do everything in your power to savor and protect your youth. You can look after your bodies by eating healthfully and exercising. You must make a habit of staying active and healthy spiritually, mentally, and psychologically. Lastly, you must also be prepared for the inevitability of old age and death.
Retirement is still all too often viewed as a time when you can do anything that you want to do, and that you will have plenty of time to plan when it happens. In my experience, there is some truth to that. However, I have had more success with transition in areas that were pre-planned more extensively or at the very least were given thoughtful consideration.
Because many people now live into their 80’s and often 90’s, retirement years could span 1/3 or more of your life. That is certainly worth being prepared for.
Although being prepared is largely a state of mind, it has other components as well. You need a body that has been nurtured over time to sustain many more years of activity. You need psychological peace of mind and spiritual good health. All these need to be nurtured over the years preceding your retirement, as they are all interrelated and mutually supportive.
What you have to look forward to in retirement is a journey.
Do yourselves a favor and plan ahead for what lies ahead.
