What will you do with 60 hours a week when you retire?

Willpower is a muscle that needs work. It's a process that needs to be built over time. Only when it becomes a routine, do we use it during our most difficult or stressful times.

You need the willpower to get over stressful times or it leaves you feeling vulnerable. Retirement as a period of transition is stressful and is ranked 10th on the list of life's 43 most stressful events.

Few people have the willpower to get over the stressful event of retirement because we work most of our life and have never built a habit of dealing with life sans work. Hence, you see a lot of individuals suffering from mental or physical illnesses post-retirement.

When you have no answer to "what do you do"?

In a world where "what do you do " is a question that comes next to the most commonly asked question  " how are you", what will be your answer?

Imagine when you are asked the question and you feel like a victim. You suddenly feel a loss of identity. All your life, you have public recognition that accompanies your position or the work you do. Your work is the most important dimension of your life. And then, suddenly one morning you wake up to see it vanish.

For most people retirement leads to a loss of identity, loss of self-esteem and causes anxiety. It makes you feel insecure.

No one talks about all this, but this imminently leads to depression, setting in slowly for some and rapidly for others. Depression reduces the ability to think clearly and instantly results in a decline in cognitive abilities. That's why you see a lot of individuals suffer from mental illnesses after retirement.

What's fun for 2 days a week, isn’t fun for 7 days a week

A retired lady shared with me,

" I wake up at noon and do nothing but eat and watch TV all day, except for occasional walks. How long am I going to do that before I die of boredom"

 Another gentleman shared,

" Having time on hand was fun for 3 months. Month 4 I got bored, by month 5, I was depressed and having bad thoughts. One thing I did wrong was that my old weekend activities of watching movies,  hiking, drinking - started to be every day. Whats fun for 2 days a week, wasn't for 7 days a week."

Another person who will be retiring in a few years as a marketing head , said

"I'm interested to know how many people here have real concrete hobbies that they want to spend their time doing when they retire, or have some other idea of how they want to fill the 40-60 hours a week they'll gain when they retire. Personally I do a lot of charity work and I love it ,but I'm not sure if I'll want to fill my time with that when I retire. Most of my hobbies otherwise just relate to that charity work too.What does a workaholic do in retirement?

These are soul-crushing questions that we need to ask ourselves. It's an ordeal that we as a community need to think about because the aging population is rising.

Earlier life expectancy was low. Today, there's a remarkable chance of adults living 20-25 years more, post-retirement .

The 65-year-olds today look & appear younger and are definitely more active than their previous generations. This makes retirement the longest phase of life. Hence, it becomes extremely necessary to be active and engaged day to day.

Moreover, as per a Mercer report, today on average globally as people are expected to live longer years in retirement, without proper planning, many will outlive their savings or will have to cut down on their standard of living. We need to take this warning seriously and work towards avoiding this crisis.

The 3M

In our everyday chaos, work adds stability and structure. Work provides 3M that supports us to lead a confident and happy life.

M - meaning in life.  Work provides meaning. It gives you a satisfying start to look forward to something when you wake up in the morning. More importantly, it gives you a purpose that encourages you to get up from bed every day.

M - men/women connection. Human connection is important. In today's world, where we stay in nuclear families and where everyone gets busy in their life, it's important to find your group of people to keep you spirited. Having workplace colleagues becomes a wonderful way of interacting and integrating. Interacting with people of all ages helps you stay updated and helps you in reinventing yourself.

M - mental stimulation.  Work helps us to keep our cognitive skills strong and steer away from depression, anxiety, or any other mental and physical illnesses. Stimulation of the mind helps us lead a  more optimistic life.

Work is a great source of inspiration. As much as we may complain about work life, once we quit work it breaks our routine, takes away our main source of social interaction and more importantly takes away an opportunity for us to use our brains and competency.

It doesn't matter whether you get back to work for money, structure, to be around people, to accomplish things, or to just enjoy a cup of coffee with your colleagues. What is important is that you get back to work to create value for yourself and for others. It's the only way to lead a fulfilling life.