Walking into my local shopping mall a while ago, I was confronted with a sign advertising ‘Happiness, only $99.’ Thinking that was a good deal, I approached the shop assistant to inquire.
People approaching retirement should consider how they will feel when putting their career in the rearview mirror. Even if you do a good job maintaining contact with your career friends, your career is over and you may have a period of mourning to go through.
A Wellbeing Survey was published that used Martin Seligman’s five pillars underpinning the ‘flourishing life’ to comment on wellbeing. The survey also revealed a number of self-care activities that help in building wellbeing.
The goal in life should be to flourish. That’s what psychologist and founder of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, says. In 2016, the Australian Psychological Society reported on an Australian Wellbeing Survey that used his five pillars underpinning the ‘flourishing life’ to comment on wellbeing.
What we feed consistently will grow. That’s why nurturing our life garden is so important. We need to daily tend to our garden, knowing that what we’ve sown will bear fruit in the fullness of time.
No one gets through life without gathering regrets of some kind. That means by the time we get to retirement, they have the potential to have a huge negative impact on our lives.
I was surprised to discover that retirement was ranked as number 10 in the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory list of 43 life stressors. For instance, the death of a spouse is the number 1 stressor and is given 100 points. Divorce is number 2, with 73 points. Retirement, at number 10, is given 45 points.
There’s a trend among the middle-aged to focus on work and income at the expense of their personal wellbeing. It’s often done with the hope that they can work on wellbeing later—in retirement, perhaps.
Not all men are the same, of course, but there are some generalisations that fit most men. Here are five things men need to know about retirement.
Is the pursuit of happiness a good goal? Well-known Australian social researcher Hugh Mackay says, No! Happiness is a somewhat shallow goal and mostly unworkable. Wholeness is the thing to aim for.