Life After Retirement
For most people, life is as good as over when they retire, which is around 60. They feel that they are past the prime of their life and now there is nothing more they can do than simply sit back and take what life, or more precisely, their children throw at them. This laidback attitude usually is the reason of unending grief for many senior citizens. Although there is a saying 'life begins at 40', life can also begin at 60, a completely new innings for you. It only needs a little bit of effort and willingness to make things work in your favor. Being an aged person does not mean that you stop enjoying the many pleasures of life. The more you take joy in little things, the better your health will be and will also make others around you happy and cheerful.
Be Free Financially
Around this time, for most people, majority of their responsibilities towards the family are over. The children are all grown up and started on careers of their own, most daughters have been married off happily in their own homes. Their are no immediate concerns of thinking about the next installment on your home mortgage or your child's next term fees. Most seniors at this age have retired with their own home, a substantial amount in the bank received from their gratuity and provident fund, some also have a steady income from pensions. So this is the time when you do not have to worry about your finances. You have worked hard your entire life to be independent financially. So be cautious with your money and invest it in only such schemes that are reliable, trustworthy, with years of good reputation and most importantly, via agents that you can trust 100 percent. Be extra careful with the paperwork and read through the fine print before you sign on that dotted line. It is your money and therefore, you have to be very cautious.
Do not give everything away to your children. There are many parents who dearly love their children and give away everything they have to the children thinking that it is now the duty of their children to look after them. It is their duty, yes, but it is your life, do not let others control it for you. You never know when the children will turn against you and if you have nothing left, you will be left high and dry. Harsh this may seem, but it is a sad fact of life.
About a year ago, I read a similar heart-rending story of an old couple whose son had settled in the USA. The couple owned a nice home in a prime locality of Pune. One day the son came to visit and convinced his parents to sell the home, give him all the money and he promised to take them to USA with him. The parents loved their son dearly, so they complied with his wishes and sold everything they had. The son took them to Mumbai airport and on some pretense, asked them to wait for him while he attended to something urgent that had come up. The couple sat for hours in the waiting area for him to return. Finally they grew worried and started making enquiries, it was then that they found out he had already boarded his plane to USA leaving them behind - penniless and homeless. The story made headlines across many newspapers. What happened to the old couple after that is not known, they are probably in some old age home, trying to come to terms with such betrayal from the son they raised with love! Of course, not all children behave in such horrible manner, but its a lesson to all.
It is your children who will inherit everything you have, but do not let them control everything. Make a will instead, on time, and get it registered. Fill out all the requisite forms in your banks to nominate your children. This will save them a lot of hassles afterwards. Some people think that making a will soon after retiring is a bad sign. It is a bad sign indeed, not of your impending death, but of your planning. Plan prudently all your finances and you will be free from a lot of hassles afterwards.
Time For Doing What You Love
Now that there is no work life to occupy your major chunk of time, take up things that you have loved to do. Do something you have always wanted to do but could not because you didn't have the time or money for it. Pick up your pen and start writing those poems you always wanted to. Brush up your painting skills. Take up gardening as a hobby and see how much wonders it works for you. Gardening is a great stress buster and also being with plants will provide you a lot of oxygen and will leave you fresh and energized. There are many men who like cooking but have not been able to learn for lack of time, now is the time to start learning those dishes you love to eat. Even if you don't want to learn cooking, try helping your wife in the kitchen.
Time To Re-connect And Rekindle your Romance
Working together in the kitchen will open up new channels of communication. Those channels which had been lost all those years because she was too busy trying to cook tiffins for you and the children. Flying around to see that the children did not miss their bus or you did not forget your important file or handkerchief or something else, and also juggling her own responsibilities at her job. In the evenings after you returned home, all she wanted was to talk to you about what happened in the day, while all you wanted was a cup of steaming hot tea and the TV remote in your hand. She really wanted to talk to you about something crucial or even something very minor. But the conversation was lost because you had no time. You were either indifferent or absent for most of the time. Now, is the time to give her some attention that she deserves and you will find romance blooming again. It will make you both happy, and more importantly keep you healthy. Studies have suggested that the richer and intimate your relationships are with your spouse, the better and healthier your health is. Happy and healthy relationships also keep age-related Alzheimer's, hypertensive disorders etc. at bay. Feel young and be young. Romance is not just for the young, it is for everyone who wants to feel alive. Be naughty with your spouse and take her out for a romantic date. It will certainly put the roses back in her cheeks. Most likely, she too has been a working woman constantly juggling between household chores, cooking, managing children's studies and her own job. So it is time that she got a respite from all of that.
Get Fit Together
Get up early and start walking. Take your wife along and relish the freshness and crispness of the early morning air. Better still, join a yoga club or a hasya club. It will help you make new friends as well along with making you fit and healthy. Do some meditation. Yoga and meditation will not just make you fit but will also keep your mind sharp and alert.
Retired women could join a kitty club, yes, gossiping is healthy, provided it is not about each others' daughters-in-law or the young girl-next-door who is friends with some lascivious guy she is going around with. Take up some volunteering work teaching how to read and write to your maid servant. It will instil a lot of positive energy inside you.
Workout For Your Brains
No longer having a working career, it does not mean you neglect your brains. In order to keep away dementia and Alzheimer's at bay, you still need to keep your brains going. Catch up on reading. Don't read just daily newspapers or popular fiction or celebrity magazines, but do some serious reading - Shakespeare or Shaw or something similar which will make your brain do some analyzing. Start writing. Write to your friends, write journals about your early childhood and memories about your youthful days.
Solve some crossword puzzles, play scrabble with your wife or friends. Better still, join a chess club. Playing chess is extremely good for keeping your mental faculties sharp and well oiled.
Sex Up Your Life
Sex at this age?? Crazy does it sound? Yes, but it is all in our mental attitude. Sex in old age can be indeed made enjoyable and comfortable. Only thing is that our attitude must be changed. Most women are fearful of indulging in sexual behavior for fear of what will the others think if they found out. Why care about others? Go ahead and enjoy it if it pleases you. Recent studies suggest that after menopause, women are in fact absolutely free from worries of unwanted pregnancies that could happen and therefore, are more uninhibited. So if you are both healthy and comfortable enough, go ahead and have a healthy sexual life. Sex is not restricted or copyrighted only to the young! The only side effects that sex can bring about is your own good health and longer life.
Travel Together
If travelling is your cup of tea and you enjoy visiting new places, start doing so immediately. See a new place with your wife every few months. It will enrich your cultural and social life as well. There is a renowned travel agency that conducts specially designed tours for old couples, aptly renamed 'second innings'. So why not start your own second innings with a tour to a romantic getaway? Probably the same place where you went as young honeymooners. It will bring back the nostalgia of your youth and make you fall in love with each other once again.
Play With Your Grandchildren
Playing with your grandchildren will work wonders for you as well the little ones. Playing puzzles, building blocks etc. will not just keep your 
brains sharper but will also help the children connect with you. Reading stories to the children will help them learn languages well and build up their vocabulary while at the same time keep your mind sharp. Playing a little rough-and-tumble games with them will keep your limbs supple.
Laugh A Lot
Share jokes with your family. don't be a grouchy old man no one wants to talk to. Be humorous and see the difference it makes, humor will attract people to you like honey does to flies. In addition, it will make you endearing to your family.
Help Out Around the House
Helping with chores around the house will keep you active and out of boredom. You have plenty of time so why not help the kids get ready for their school, or a little help with the homework. Your daughter-in-law would certainly apreciate that.
A little bit of effort is all that it takes for you to have that happy, healthy life. So stop worrying and start living! For we are only as old as we feel!
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