Retirement

Retirement is something that people often look forward to. It should not create adversity in their life, but it often does. Most people do not plan well enough for their retirement either financially or emotionally. Putting enough money away to have a comfortable retirement is a difficult process. Perhaps even more important is planning what you're going to do in your retirement. Men, in particular, have a hard time with this. Going fishing and playing golf only fills so many hours.

So in the next few blogs, we are going to focus on retirement. And we going to present some challenge questions from the serious game bounce back that can teach participants the skills and attitudes of resilience that they may need to enjoy their retirement. The game asked participants to respond to challenges and describe exactly how they would use the skills and the attitudes of resilience in dealing with the challenge.

So here's the first question: since retiring three months ago from your job as a project manager you will spend most of your days lying on the couch and watching TV. Your grandchildren live hundreds of miles away and your wife is still working full time. You're bored, to say the least. What would you do?

Try to place yourself in the situation. Give some thought to this. Talk with a friend or family member about how they plan on dealing with retirement or how they have dealt with retirement if they are retired.

Here are some of the skills and attitudes of resilience that we think would be helpful. First, communication with others is probably a very good idea. Talk with your friends and those closest to you—your spouse, your children. You can learn a lot from talking with other people about how they have dealt with this challenge in their lives.

Be flexible and willing to try new things. Maybe you do need to try golf, even though you haven't played it in years. Maybe you do need a new hobby, even though you haven't had much time for hobbies in the past.

Problem solve. This probably means finding something that will give your life meaning and focus. Why are you getting up in the morning? What do you want to accomplish each day? Make a schedule for yourself, even if it has very few things on it initially.

You may have come up with other skills and attitudes that you could use in the situation again talk with other people about the situation and connect with others. Realize that this challenges faced by many many people. Few people have a good retirement plan.

In the weeks ahead we will post more challenge questions about retirement. Be open to the learning process.