Retirement is probably one of the most interesting & enjoyable stages in a person’s life; the retiree may have mixed feelings about the upcoming affairs in his life. Surprisingly, the important phase also has some steps, & you can tag them as the stages of retirement that varies according to many experts.
Well, my neighbor is a retired army officer; he was 55 years old when he got retired from his service, but trust me, I never saw him losing the spirit. He runs a small business & has set the daily routine in such a way that never lets him be depressed about anything.
Let’s read the article to know the basic stages & what a person should do to deal with the great changes in his/her life. Are you ready?
Well, before going to deep, let’s take a brief idea on that article:
KEY SYNOPSIS
- Stages of retirement includes planning guideline on retirement, how to spend free time during retirement, best part of the retirement, how to deal with depression, how to maintain the new daily routine and so on.
- Don’t treat the retirement phase as an ending of your life, rather it’s a beginning of a new journey to see the world from a different angle.
- Depression may come around you but you should overcome those through the inherent inspiration of enjoying life. Also you need to consider various Post Retirement Activities.
- This is the time of self-actualization, and it is only possible through nurturing various hobbies and sharing life-long experiences and expertise with young members of the society.
What Are the Stages of Retirement: Have a Brief Discussion over Those Stages
Many experts debate on the stages; Now, economists & psychologists have taken this time very seriously. People used to study the mental state during marriage, childbirth, school-time, or teenage; but what about the common retirement phase, which we all will face definitely once our life? So let’s dig down a little more and know the five stages here:
1. Preparation phase before going to retirement
That’s the first stage which begins a long time before retirement; this phase begins after a person’s 50s or middle age. When the person knows that he/she will be retired within a few years, he starts to save money for old age or their children and family; some of them put the kids in renowned colleges to set them.
Is that enough to plan life after retirement or you need to add some more thoughts?
You must think of other things like where you want to live after retirement, how you will spend your life or planning a small business to be financially independent.
Moreover, you must have a plan to use the retirement money for a purpose, & what things would you do after your farewell. So you can think about the following areas for pre-retirement planning:
- Financial strength
- Housing facilities
- Favourite past times/ Hobbies
- Different business idea
- Insurance requirement
2. The Day to Retire
That’s a big day actually. This is the official closure of your work life. But definitely it’s not the ending of your work life in reality. Once you reach the retirement period, you may have to fulfil many formalities; you will have some paper works done (especially when you willingly retire before the time comes), you have to go through with lots of emotions, smiles, best wishes, handshakes and finally, the farewell or other relevant programs will take place for you; you will have to participate in the festivities and absolutely those are enjoyable. Moreover, you can follow below checklist to make sure your last moments activities:
- Complete your necessary paper works (based on official formalities)
- Collect necessary contact details for future necessities
- Meeting with your beloved colleagues
- Share your thoughts and views to others
- Accept positive feelings of others about you to keep yourself motivated
- Let goodbye to everyone finally.
Retirement life will seem to be a good one for you; you may even feel like a celebrity because you will have all the limelight. However, you can have some time with a psychiatrist who can mentally prepare you for the upcoming changes in your life to keep the negativity away from you.
3. Honeymoon Phase of Retirement
You may be a little surprised with the term honeymoon because it’s used when a newly married couple goes on a trip immediately after their wedding. Now you may ask what is it & how does it return after your retirement; you can also refer the time as a vacation and absolutely one of the important stages of retirement.
You can visit your friends, relatives, siblings, or hang out with them to pass your leisure time; Some elderly people even prefer visiting their children or grandkids. Only visiting people is not a part of this phase; sometimes people roam or travel around the world with their respective partners.
Therefore, the time feels very exciting because people can do the things which they couldn’t during the busy life; So the advice is, enjoy your time as much as possible, but don’t spend all your savings.
4. Dealing with Depression
Depression is one of the stages of retirement psychology which no people can escape or skip; every retired person will go through this feeling after their hangout or enjoyment phase gets over.
People at this stage often face different mental issues because they start feeling an emptiness in their lives; moreover, they also feel that they are not needed anymore. If the retired elderly person has no plans & depends on others, their depression increases more, including some mental trauma.
Though it may vary person to person but few common depression symptoms are hopelessness, not finding any interest on the enjoyable works, appetite loss, inadequate sleep or sometimes too much sleeping, anxiety, lack of concentration, weaknesses and many more.
Sometimes people ignore to take support from specialist but this is very important to take special care during such depression cases. Also depressed person has to know when to search for professional support for retirement depression.
Here it is suggested to examine how you approach your entire day. You must be careful if you face above mentioned symptoms continuously and negative thought comes in your mind frequently. It is always recommended, the retired people who are suffering from severe depression must consult a counsellor or a psychiatrist to deal with the situation;
A consultant can surely help the depressed person to get out of it. Also one can choose various post retirement activities to avoid depression. Those activities can make the tedious time more enjoyable and can help the person from get out of this stage.
A retiree can also involve various volunteer works and social engagement activities to enjoy the free time. Those normally help a person to keep away from downheartedness.
5. Getting Stronger Mentally & Moving Towards the New Routine
At this stages of retirement, you are now used to your new life where depression must be wiped out. You should be reoriented to your new life where you can take care of your hobbies first. Gradually you will realize that society needs you as the most experienced personnel. You can join some associations of elderly & retired people; Also you can think about various low stress jobs to keep you dynamic. You may also work as a social senior citizen.
This stage of life, retirement, isn’t actually a perpetual rest after all; Sometimes you will be bored & tired, you will face loneliness, sometimes it seems you are useless and those feelings let you down. However, you must start to rearrange your life again to enjoy the maximum time. Please don’t be hopeless about living your life.
Retired people usually get used to their new life & routine in this phase; the stage is everlasting for the rest of the person’s life. Anyway, taking care of health is one important part on this stage; proper diet management, regular medical check-ups, & treatments because many chronic diseases can catch you.
The person who retired recently face some usual complications. Dr. Randall Paulsen, a psychiatrist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, explains “During that phase of going from a lot of structure to almost no structure, men can exhibit the same signs as someone who is overworked,”
However, you can also take care of morning walks, yoga, contributing to your household, passing some quality time with friends & family, & concentrating on your side income if you want to stay financially independent after retirement; having a routine & balanced lifestyle will help a lot.
Moreover, some special occasions can bring some changes in your daily routine. For example, you can respond to the party invitation where you can search your interest on various party dress ideas that can divert your mind from regular routine thoughts. Or you can take a break from your monotonous life to pursue any old hobby if you have any.
These are the preliminary stages of a person having retirement; there may be other things to do according to the sociologists or psychologists. Please do anything that is good for you, or if you’re young and have a retiree around you, you should help him out in every situation.
Knowing the stages of retirement & their impact on body & mind is essential because you can help yourself or people around you at that time. However, no matter how many basic steps an expert shows you or analyse in front of you, the basic things to do will remain the same, but the enjoyment will depend on you.
Let the phase be the most memorable time of your life & enjoy it like you have never done before; you can relive your childhood & teenage then.
YOU CAN ALSO READ :
*15 Post Retirement Activities You Can Choose To Avoid Depression
*Top 20 Low Stress Jobs After Retirement to Keep You Dynamic
*What Are the Stages of Retirement & What to Do During That Time?
*Best 10 Dress Code Ideas: What to Wear to A Retirement Party?
