In my last entry on this blog I know I was going on a bit about the need to get fit and lose weight which probably puts me in a situation similar to many people. Yesterday I came back from the last of my short post-retirement trips and in a way I'm glad to be home so I can establish some new routines in this latest phase of my life. I know I have made light of the need to lose weight and keep fit but I do recognise that these are serious issues for those of us who are 60+. I certainly have become aware of the different health hazards for those like me with suddenly a bit more time on their hands. The biggest single hazard that I can see is alcohol. I have read reports about concerns over the drinking levels of those over 60 and always felt that wouldn't be an issue for me and it isn't currently but I can certainly see how it can easily become so. The last three weeks have been a good example of this. In previous years I would have started back in my job as a deputy headteacher at the beginning of September. Once I was back at work I would maybe have a glass of wine midweek but basically not drink anything until Friday night when I would enjoy a couple of glasses a wine and maybe gin and tonic to mark the end of a hard week. I certainly wouldn't have had much to drink on Sunday prior to starting work and the big staff meeting on Monday morning. That need to be alert and on the ball would also stop me going out for drinks to the pub during the week and the the net effects of this would be that my alcohol consumption would be fairly moderate during the weeks that I was working.
Experiencing September without work has meant there has not been the days where I think I have to be careful about what I drink because of the next day. If I see friends on a Sunday for a barbecue I now don't have to worry about having an extra glass of wine because there will not be that big staff meeting on Monday and I will not have to field phone calls from parents. I can now go out to the pub on Monday or Tuesday and I don't have to worry about getting up early and being clear headed for work the next day. Now, although the level of drinking on many of these days when I previously would not have been drinking, is not very high, the overall effect is to increase the amount of alcohol I am drinking over the week. It has made me aware that if I kept this up over the coming months and years it would be very easy to end up with an alcohol problem.
So, even at this early stage of retirement, I can see three potential health dangers which I need to address:
- Less physical exercise. I will need to put in place an exercise regime to replace the energy and exercise which I would naturally have had as part of my day-to-day work.
- Overeating .At work I was on the go from eight o'clock through to at least five and sometimes six o'clock. On these days I would have a light breakfast and just a sandwich at lunch. When a home it's easier to snack more often and have bigger meals. Eating more can just creep up on you.
- Drinking too much alcohol.It's easier and more tempting to drink recreationally during the week when you're not working which can lead to an increase in alcohol consumption
The other thing that I am becoming aware of is the work contains its own sense of meaning and purpose and suddenly not having that full-time sense of purpose and in my case suddenly not being the person called upon to sort out problems does mean that there is a gap in one's life which it would be tempting to fill with extra food and drink. I imagine this is quite common for many in the early stages of retirement. Having done my travels during August and September I now need to focus on establishing new meanings and a new purpose which in turn will hopefully rein in some of the excesses of food and drink of the last two months.
Sorry this post has been more serious and just to temper that sombre tone I want to finish by pointing out how liberating the past two months have been. Yes there are dangers of overindulging and needing to find new purpose but being aware of these one can do something about them. The huge pluses of retirement are the freedoms provided to find new sources of meaning and purpose and the luxury of time and a pension (although I recognise not everyone has the luxury of a decent pension) to be able to do what you want to do but maybe put off because of all the other pressures whilst working full-time.
It would be great to hear from anyone else who's recently retired about their experiences in the immediate aftermath of retirement especially in relation to diet, exercise and alcohol. Take care out there.
Until the next time.
John
This is how I finished my last blog entry two weeks ago:
I finish this blog then with some neat little objectives until my next entry:
- start and maintain my new Food & Drink regime
- start practising my singing and playing
- sort out some finances
- write another blog entry by the end of the week
Certainly a bit of a gap since my last post, basically a month. But my waistline. I'm afraid the gap there between my trousers and my stomach has disappeared. It now looks like a tsunami of fat is trying to cascade over my trousers and obliterate my thighs. Not good. The gap in writing my blog is very easy to explain. I have been away to Ireland and then after a few days back went off to Spain to see an old friend in his new villa. I think therefore I could be excused not writing my blog whilst I enjoyed a few weeks of holidaying freedom.
The weight issue is also fairly easy to explain. I was on holiday and completely disregarded my own advice to watch what I eat, be moderate in what I drink and start to lose weight for health and aesthetic reasons. I'm sure I'm not alone in abandoning all good intentions when I'm set upon enjoying myself. The problem comes at the end of the holiday you look at yourself you weigh yourself and you feel nothing but self disgust and you say to yourself ,"why did you do that John, where is your self-control?"
In my last blog I said that addressing the weight and health issues was a primary objective in my new found retirement. I am therefore going to write off the last month and say that that was my four-week bender upon reaching retirement and celebrating the fact. The trouble is in a few days time I'm going on holiday again and very concerned that the same disregard for my weight and health will again come into play. This may well be why so many people retire and in a very short amount of time end up keeling over and saying goodbye to their hard earned pension. This was apparent last night which was the night before what would have been the first day of term with the children. In the past I would certainly not have had a drink I would've eaten moderately and gone to bed early. But without the need to get up at 6:30 what I actually did was eat a big meal at a late time, drink two large glasses of wine, stay up to 1.30 and then went to bed with indigestion .
Thus we come to an unexpected consequence of retirement. Without the necessity to rein in the excesses of food and drink because one is about to go to work, it becomes very easy to overindulge and thus to die prematurely. This is not one of my objectives for retirement. So the change I talked about in the last blog is even more imperative. Maybe I need to list on here what I will do so that when I re-read the blog I can be reminded of what I set out as my intentions. So here goes: from this moment I will not drink alcohol for the next three days, I would also only eat at three-set times a day, I will severely restrict carbohydrates, cut out sugar and stick to proteins, whole foods and lots of fruit and vegetables. Next week when I go on holiday I know I will indulge a little after all that's why they call it a holiday, it's respite from how we normally live. But I will try and stick to the basic three meals a day, limit the drinking and do lots of walking. I will keep you posted on my progress.
As I said earlier this would have been the day that I started back to work proper and and so in some ways feels like my first day of retirement. So what I need to do is to start creating routines for myself as I don't want to end up lazing around watching TV, cooking big breakfasts and not having a focus. I had lots of plans in my head prior to retirement and I now need to formalise these and start to work towards realising these plans. In the few days that I have got this week before going on holiday I will dust off the guitar and ukelele and trying get back to the level that I obtained a few years ago in my playing and singing. The second thing that I can act upon this week is sorting out the finances as this is going to present a real challenge in the face of low interest rates and the uncertainty around Brexit. The first thing that I can achieve this week would be to keep this blog going which I suppose is as much for me as for anyone else.
I finish this blog then with some neat little objectives until my next entry:
- start and maintain my new Food & Drink regime
- start practising my singing and playing
- sort out some finances
- write another blog entry by the end of the week
Retirement is certainly a big change and it feels slightly disorientating. It also feels very liberating. The challenge seems to be changing direction and making it work.
Till next time.
John
