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This will be the first in posts about the seven qualities you want to nurture and curate to lead to happiness in retirement. Those qualities are: CURIOSITY, RESILIENCE, PERSPECTIVE, GRATITUDE, TIME MANAGEMENT, ADAPTABILITY, and A 10 YEAR OLD’S JOY, otherwise known as, WONDER. Not only do these traits keep an attitude within bounds of happiness, but they also are essential to mastering a time of life when stressful situations and losses enter into the picture, particularly unexpected stresses. One thing about many people, if they are fortunate they have an adequate warning regarding an … [Read more...] about ONE OF THE 7 QUALITIES TO NURTURE FOR A HAPPY RETIREMENT!

I had a serendipitous encounter with a fellow pilot who, upon introduction, pulled out his phone and showed me the infamous “countdown clock”–how many days, hours and minutes left until he was officially retired. For pilots who go the distance, it’s on their 65th birthday–an ignominious way to enter retirement, or rather, end a career. First, the date of your birth should always be associated with celebration, and although many pilots eagerly look forward the date when the will be “free” and unencumbered by scheduling their life in the days “off”, some are going less willingly and less hopeful … [Read more...] about You Have the Toys, but…. What’s the PLAN??

Usually in retirement, or the next chapter, there is an IDENTITY SHIFT -from a career/working individual to the new status of “retiree”. There are many obvious and addressed issues of the difficulty many have when upon retirement, they “lose their identity”. It’s the source of many a troubled transition, and something that retirement coaches try to address well in advance of the D-date (Done!) – so that minimum harm or impact will be felt. But a lesser known source of unhappiness and maybe even depression can be found even when someone is happy to face the next chapter. This type of issue … [Read more...] about IDENTITY RIFT

Doesn’t any word with stress in it, stress you out? One of the biggest goals in most retirees’ lives is to reduce or eliminate all the stressors which were inherent to the job. For some it was the office politics, for others, it was the commute, and for many it was the time demands that were in conflict with their “real life”– life at home, with family, friends, or in pursuits of what they really wanted to do. Of course, everyone is fully aware of the effects of stress on health and relationships in our lives. Actually, that kind of stress is more specifically labeled distress, which … [Read more...] about GOT EUSTRESS?

I recently finished reading a fascinating book on productivity by Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit. In Smarter, Faster, Better, Duhigg writes about how certain characteristics and features of our self-life can lead to more productive and fulfilled existences. The very first idea is on motivation- what motivates people to get something done, how motivation works in our brains, and why being motivated is so important. Why does this matter in and approaching a retirement life? Many high functioning people who have led companies, captained airplanes, or owned successful … [Read more...] about On Motivation and Control

Remember when you were a child and the first day of school loomed large at the end of the summer? It’s that time again, and I reminisce, with my own personal memories, those of my 3 children, and now, the impressions of my daughter’s first day of school as a fifth-grade teacher. Although the return nowadays isn’t the crisp autumn air I experienced as a kid in Windsor, Connecticut, after Labor Day and with a full glorious summer behind me, it is still the transition that is a universal experience– as a student, teacher or parent, practiced every single school year, up to and including college. … [Read more...] about The First Day of School