Well, summer is now officially over, although the heat defies the calendar. This week was spent trying to settle into a new schedule. I really imagined that retirement would look differently, so I’m still trying to figure out how I’m doing it wrong since I’m still pretty busy. In fact, I don’t see a huge difference between what I’m doing now and what I did immediately before I retired. I guess I have more freedom to focus on what I want to do and fewer commitments imposed on me but I’m obviously doing it wrong since I don’t have time to read, take long walks, have lunch with friends, and other traditional stuff people long for when they retire.

In his book on happiness with Oprah Winfrey, yes that Oprah, Harvard professor Arthur Brooks (who teaches courses in happiness) says this about happiness and scheduling:

“It’s important to actually have a routine for what you’re trying to do, to set your day up in the right way,” he said. “Structuring your day is critically important [for happiness].” [source]

My new schedule

Still teaching

Maybe that’s why I find myself falling back into the schedule I had when I was working full-time. I enjoyed my job (I was a marketing professor for 30+ years). I didn’t enjoy all the meetings and I certainly had issues with the administration but I loved working with students (for the most part–that 1% can really make your life miserable, however). I’m retired, but still teaching a couple of university classes since I’m cheap and the university finds it hard to fill some of the gen ed classes with full-time faculty as they cost too much money between salary and benefits. That removes most of the frustrating elements of teaching (meetings and administration) while keeping the best parts. Score one for happiness.

I only have to be on campus one day a week with this new schedule, so I get to spend more time with Pearl, my 55lb Pit Bull baby (she’s 6 but you’d never know it to look at her). I was taking her to classes since we returned to in-person after COVID-19, and she loved the students but she’s terrified of other dogs and more folks were bringing their dogs on campus, so I had to leave her at home this year. Plus, she won’t ride the elevator and I’m teaching on a higher floor this semester. So, spending more time at home makes me happy. Score another point for happiness.

Smothered by Pearl

WOW, I really needed to get my color done in this picture!

Working out

I quit working out regularly a few years ago when I suffered an injury and then filled that time with other things, like walking my dog, Pearl. Last week, I went back to working out by joining a gym (my new Medicare plan pays for my gym membership, which is must better than trying to work out with your students judging you in the gym on campus). While that’s not me below, it’s how I feel. I either needed prayers to alcohol to get through that first workout. I chose alcohol! — appletini anyone? (There’ll be enough praying next week with many Rosh Hashanah services).

Even though I took it easy last time, I still feel a little sore today. But, I’m committed to adding the gym to my new schedule at least 3 days a week. Just get the drink ready for when I return this afternoon. What’s your fav?

Working out is another tip from the happiness book. So, score another win for happiness.

working out again

Keeping busy

I realized years ago that I’m happier if I’m working. So, now that I’m retired, I am busy with the things like love to do, like running this website. It was my daughter’s idea since I taught digital marketing over the years and she thought it might work to write about growing older without growing up. I thought it was a great idea and I hope you do, too. I’m also helping to organize activities for the group of 55+ women in and around the area. Mostly it’s social events and we have a lot of fun.

Besides running this website, I continue running my small digital marketing business. I don’t earn a huge amount of money, never enough to quit my teaching gig, but it’s a nice supplement to my income and I enjoy keeping my hand in. I always loved to learn and this forces me to continue reading what’s going on in the field. I’ve also taken up writing again now that I don’t have to worry about publishing journal articles (which was my initial reason for starting my digital marketing website. Writing without worrying about what reviewers would say but only working to help small business owners be more successful). I write pretty dark mystery/thriller novels about terrorist threats and the FBI folks keeping them in line. It’s called the Dark Web series and it’s so ripped from the headlines that a friend from the CIA worries that I’m giving bad guys ideas (they already have bad ideas and access to the same public resources I use in constructing my books.

I am able to do more volunteer work, which also brings me happiness. I’m making scarves from the vast collection of yarn I accumulated over the years. I currently have 10 finished winter scarves that I’ll donate to local charities. I am excited by the prospect of seeing my scarves worn by the homeless in our small community. I also worked with Gifts Giving Back for the last several years. Mostly, this involved donating books to the local students in 4th grade. However, the organizers decided that wasn’t enough so now they’re doing book events at the schools and using events as a means to give books to school-age kids as a way to get them into reading. We have an event next month and I’ll be manning the booth for a shift or two.

Score more points for happiness.

My new schedule isn’t all fun and games

I’m still struggling with the minutia of retirement. I haven’t seen the first annuity payment from my retirement account, so we’re still fighting over that. I’m on the phone with the company on a daily basis.

Ditto for Social Security, as I get a new letter from them nearly every day with a different amount to expect in my first check, which won’t come until late October. Remember that as you approach retirement. You need another source of funds to tide you over until these retirement funds kick in. I feel bad for folks without savings. I don’t know how they’ll pay their bills for the first few months.

Everything else also seems to take multiple visits and phone calls despite the fact that I started filling out forms and answering questions three months prior to my retirement date. Oh well, take a few points from my happiness bank.

Conclusion

Overall, I think I did pretty well with my new schedule in terms of adding to my happiness. What about you?

I’d love to connect

You get the most out of this content when you engage with me on Facebook or Instagram. So, head on over to follow. But, you need to share your ideas, provide feedback on what I say (even if you think it totally missed the boat), and tell me how you’re getting the most from living while gray.

We’re all getting older, but, as my dad always said, it beats the alternative. You may find it’s easy to sit around and watch TV all day but experts show that’s a recipe for an early death plus it makes the years you live seem longer. Sure, it’s great to just sit around in your PJ, sleep late, stare at the TV, and do nothing in the first weeks after you retire. There’s nothing demanding your attention, which is great. That’s the dream of every worker and the yen to do nothing grows as you get closer to retirement. But, if you stay engaged and creative at any age, you live longer and feel better. Whether retired or just looking for a new hobby, here are 5 ways to help you make the most of your golden years.

Image courtesy of Self Help Daily

Physical activity is great for living longer and healthier, but staying engaged and creative at any age adds meaning to your life and enriches it, as you can see above. Here are some things you can do to stay engaged and creative at any age.

Stay engaged and creative at any age

When you’re younger, you’re busy juggling work, kids, spouses, family, and other activities. As you age, many of those activities dwindle. Family members die or move away, kids leave the nest, you retire, and friends fall away once your shared interests evaporate. It takes more effort to replace all these activities that consumed your days as you get older.

I found kids were an important part of meeting new people as you went to the endless circus of games, school events, and birthday parties. Once the kids get their licenses, it’s harder to meet new folks. Plus, many folks move away at some point in their retirement either to downsize, reduce their living expenses (believe me, social security doesn’t allow you to maintain your pre-retirement lifestyle), stay closer to family, or live in their dream location now that you don’t have to live near a job.

Here are some of our top recommendations for seniors looking to stay engaged and creative at any age:

5 ways to keep busy

I can only speak from my own experience, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Here are my suggestions for staying engaged and creative at any age, although I focus on baby boomers like me.

1. Find a creative outlet

Maybe you loved to paint or draw when you were younger. I was always a writer and, now that I’m nearing retirement, I’ve started writing fiction again. You can find my stuff on Amazon, my website, or check out my Facebook page to see what I’m up to.

You can find lots of creative outlets and you don’t really have to be good at it, as long as it’s fun.

You can combine your creative outlets with more engagement. For instance, I love to crochet and our local library offers space on Friday mornings for folks to work on their projects together. There’s also a writer’s group near me and we have lunch once a week together.

2. Stay active

You don’t have to prepare for a marathon to stay active. As a matter of fact, it’s probably not a good idea to jump into something serious unless it’s something you always did. You can still take a walk, and I encourage you to get a dog who’ll remind you to get your daily exercise. They’re also great pals.

Smothered by Pearl

You can also find health insurance programs that pay for membership at local gyms or senior workouts. Find one that fits your activity level. For instance, a neighbor does “Silver Sneakers” which involves using chairs for stability during exercise. That fits her but I’m much younger and would find that extremely dull.

Most communities offer programs for seniors either at the senior center or somewhere else. Our local museum offers walking trails and programs for seniors (and everyone else).

3. Learn something

One of the advantages of being a woman of a certain age is that local community colleges often offer free courses. Sometimes these are extension courses that involve a small fee and anyone can register but other times it’s non-credit earning college courses. A friend of mine was taking physics classes after he retired (not my cup of tea, mind you). But, he was a statistician before he retired and his mind works in a very warped way.

You can also find lots of online courses in anything you can imagine from languages to cooking to coding. Have some fun with something.

The added benefit of learning something is that experts say it delays or prevents the onset of dementia and other brain diseases.

4. Meet new people

Some people are social butterflies. Not me. When I moved to a new city just as the pandemic hit, it was hard for me to make friends. I don’t enjoy hanging out to meet new people so I find it easier if there’s an activity involved. Many of you have friends you’ve known since forever but may face them moving away or facing death. Everyone can use new friends.

Family

In his book, Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam talks about how technology has made it harder to form strong connections with others. Yet, that same technology can make it easier to connect.

Meetup is a great place to meet new people who share your interests. Pre-COVID, Meetup only involved face-to-face meetings but switched to virtual ones. Now, it’s a mixture of both. I belong to some walking groups, a writer’s group, a book club, and a few others that I found on Meetup.

On Nextdoor, we formed a group of women over 55 and we do organized activities with lots of time to get to know each other. We also reach out through the group to set up smaller activities by inviting people from the group to join us.

You may also find activities at your church, mosque, or synagogue.

5. Volunteer

In our mothers’ generation, women with school-age kids did all kinds of volunteer work to keep organizations alive. Now, most organizations are dying for lack of volunteers. Find organizations that reflect your interests and values. Most have a website and it’s easy to reach out to them to see if you can help with their activities. They’ll welcome you with open arms.

Conclusion

Remember, it’s never too late to start something new. Whether you’re looking to stay active, learn a new skill, or just have fun, there are plenty of ideas out there to help you make the most of your senior years. So why not take the leap and try something new today?

I’d love to connect

You get the most out of this content when you engage with me on Facebook or Instagram. So, head on over to follow. But, you need to share your ideas, provide feedback on what I say (even if you think it totally missed the boat), and tell me how you’re getting the most from living while gray.

Welcome to the Living While Gray reboot. It’s been a while since I published on this site, as I took care of some things going on in my life. I’m now committed to sharing insights on how you can make living while gray the best years of your life. In this post, I want to lay out some of the topics I’ll consider on the pages of this website. I’ll also share my insights on living while gray on my social media pages – Facebook and Instagram. You should join me there!

Angela Hausman, PhD

First, I want to make it perfectly clear that I’m just like you.

My name is Angie and this is my headshot, which I think is a little over processed by the photographer so I need a new one. I’m reaching retirement age (in fact, I’m retiring next month), I have children and grands, I have a dog as my best friend, I’m unmarried (which is likely the main difference between me and you), I own a home and a car, I have bills, and I love my life. I’m retiring after working as a marketing professor at several universities for my adult life.

What I’m NOT is a financial advisor, accountant, estate planner, medicare advisor, and any PROFESSIONAL with a vested interest in what you decide to do. I’m sure, if you’re living while gray you’re bombarded with these folks offering advice that helps them more than it helps you. I’m not like that!!!!!

I face the same challenges you do and get the same spammy emails offering me the perfect solution to the problems and changes that go along with getting of a certain age. I share my unbiased take on the issues you face and I don’t make any money based on the advice I give. I may include an ad or so, but they’re clearly marked as ads and I don’t endorse the products offered. If I find something I think will help, I’ll offer my suggestions but take them with a grain of salt as they are OPINIONS, not based on any special knowledge.

So, here are some topics I want to cover in upcoming pages of Living While Gray:

Topics for Living While Gray

Medical insurance

I’m currently struggling with decisions regarding my medical insurance moving forward. This is an incredibly complex decision as there are so many options and it’s hard to get the unvarnished story as most people posting content in this area have something to gain from your decision and, thus, don’t share the complete picture of options they don’t make any money on. You can access Medicare to get the current state of Medicare and compare your options. Here’s a short abstract of the types of insurance out there.

• Medicare Part A – hospital insurance which is free from the government and is funded through payroll deductions your entire working life. You should apply for Medicare Part A three months before you turn 65, although you can apply at any time after that.
• Medicare Part B – medical, which covers doctors’ fees and medical testing. This isn’t free. The current price for Medicare Part B is $165. Recognize that there’s a serious penalty if you don’t apply for Medicare Part B when you’re eligible and that penalty continues for as long as you have Medicare. You can apply for Medicare Part B at 65 or wait until you’re not covered by other medical insurance. It’s important to note that you must send verification that you were covered by other health insurance to avoid the penalty.
• Medicare Parts C. D, E, F, and G are medical coverage offered through private insurance companies and it’s here that you’ll find the information gets very biased (in my view). These plans are meant to supplement Medicare Part B because the coverage, frankly, sucks. These plans cover things like the deductible after Medicare Part B and things it doesn’t cover such as prescriptions, glasses, hearing aids, dental, and more. It’s important to recognize that these are ONLY available if you have Medicare Part B. There are plans you can buy where this isn’t required.
• Some companies and union contracts include healthcare coverage or you might opt to pay for a COBRA plan from your employer when you retire.

A retirement diary

One of the biggest elements of Living While Gray is my retirement diary, where I’ll share my journey through retirement.

Keeping busy

If you’re like most people, you spent 50-75 hours each week commuting, working, in meetings, or other activities related to your job. When you retire, all those hours open up in front of you. Plus, your kids are likely grown, so that frees up more hours of your day. Some folks will take over primary childcare for their grandkids to ease the burden on their working parents. But, whatever you do, you need to find something to occupy your time.

Data shows that your life expectancy is between 78 (men) and 81 (women), however, there’s wide variability in those numbers. Keeping active both physically and mentally after you retire leads to a longer and more fulfilling life. So, whether you volunteer, help out with the grandkids, engage in a hobby, or just live a full social life, you’ll live longer and be happier.

Where to live and travel

Now that you’re not tied to a specific area for your job, you have the option to live pretty much anywhere you want. In this section, we’ll discuss some interesting options for living through retirement.

Estate planning

Again, I’m not a financial person and I never bought into the idea of saving massive amounts for retirement at the expense of living for today. Sure, you need a little nest egg to see you through but I never planned to leave a lot of money to my kids. I spent the money giving them a good childhood, paying for college, and investing in training, such as ballet for the girls. That set them up to be successful in their own right, without an inheritance they’d have to share with Uncle Sam.

But, you still have things to think about, such as advanced medical directives if you don’t want to chance living on a respirator in a vegetative state (and, if you don’t want to give up hope, that’s fine, too). You also have ideas about how to handle your remains after your death. All that should be clear to your descendants so they aren’t faced with making those decisions on their own while grieving.

I’d love to connect

You get the most out of this content when you engage with me on Facebook or Instagram. So, head on over to follow. But, you need to share your ideas, provide feedback on what I say (even if you think it totally missed the boat), and tell me how you’re getting the most from living while gray.