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Mental Fitness in Retirement
Often Overlooked
A strange title you may think, however, when you have worked or had a business for 50 plus years you suddenly find yourself with an awful lot of free time and maybe thinking, what shall I do now?

Posted: September 2024    by Bob Harvey

I do not profess to be an expert, I just thought it may be helpful to share my experiences.
I am 76 and retired at the age of 73 having worked for 50 plus years. For me the following were very important and became my goals (it was novel to have goals in retirement).

  • To have a purpose
  • To be interesting
  • To keep physically fit
  • To have a plan
  • To maintain confidence
For me, to have a purpose was extremely important as it would go towards keeping me interesting and maintaining confidence (which can be an issue in retirement even if you don’t want to admit it). I found myself a position as a non-exec director, a governor of a local school and a mentor for young people at risk of offending.

It took the best part of a year to establish these roles quite a bit of thinking time to work out what I wanted and more importantly what I didn’t want to do.

It became clear that my life experiences could help others both in the voluntary and work sectors. For many people, they can have a very enjoyable retirement without a plan but for me, I needed one for my mental fitness. How can I be interesting to others in retirement? We would all like to think we are interesting but what a great goal to have. In order to be interesting we need to do interesting things (that takes some thinking through).

How nice to have something interesting to say at the family meal about what you have been up to! I decided to continue my life as a working week Monday- Friday and the weekend as a weekend it’s just a mindset but can make a big difference. I know it’s not for everyone, but daily exercise is a must! A walk or Pilates, whatever takes your fancy. Many publications talk a lot about how important exercise is in older age, all I can say is it is true!

Confidence is not something we find naturally easy to talk about (especially in retirement). When suddenly you don’t have a role/job/purpose it can cause our confidence to take a bash and can slide without us even noticing. We can question how we have managed our life and our relationships. What could we have done better/differently? This process of thinking can without doubt effect our confidence which up to now may never have been called into question. Keeping myself busy and active have helped enormously in this area.

Here are some thought provoking questions;

  • Do I feel fulfilled?
  • Am I living the life I intended?
  • What are my goals in retirement?
  • How is my physical activity?
  • Are there skills I can pass on to others?
  • What do I think of me?
For all our years at work or business we have managed people or people have managed us and now in retirement it’s up to us to manage the most important thing we have – our life it’s the only one we have. My message is simply enjoy your retirement years but work out what it needs to look like for you as it is different for each and every one of us. We are never too old to make things happen, our experience and wisdom are a huge asset, think about using all that life has taught us and in doing so exercise our mind! We need to make it happen; life has only just started when you retire.

Speak to an adviser

When we need advice on our health and wellbeing, we seek help from a professional and the same should go for our financial health too. A regulated financial adviser can review your retirement plans and look to see if there could be a better solution for you.

If you need help giving your finances a health check, please contact SeventySeven on:
 01892 770 077
 77wm@sjpp.co.uk