Contemporary Retirement Coaching Blog

Try this to prevent stooping in later life

I was out with my mum for the first time in a while this week and I noticed, as we were walking along, that her posture is becoming quite stooped nowadays.  No big surprises there, you might think - this often happens as people get older... but I was listening to the recording of a teleclass this morning and the presenter talked about how she had researched this very subject on behalf of her own elderly mother and discovered that this is not necessarily a skeletal problem. 

Apparently, the constant wearing of shoes, slippers and socks, even indoors, can deaden the brain's sensitivity to the nerves in our feet.  This leads an elderly person to look at their feet whilst walking because the brain isn't receiving the messages (about the positioning of the feet in relation to the ground) that younger, more sensitive feet would sent to it. 

Just 30 days of barefoot walking around the house and up and down stairs for 30 minutes a day allows the nerve endings on the footpad to reconnect with the brain properly, which in turn allows elderly people to be able to feel what their feet are doing and allow them to straighten up and not feel the need to look at their feet as they walk.

I had no joy when I did an Internet search to see if I could find more information on the subject, but I'm going to mention it to both my mum and dad when I speak to them next, and I'm definitely going to be trying this myself.  I'm not sure that my mum will act on my suggestion - she generally ignores my advice - but my dad, who's still a long-distance runner at 75, will definitely be up for it, I reckon!

Quick Links

From USA Today: Study: Added sugar, not just fat, bad for cholesterol

Blogging Boomers Carnival #159

This week, Barbara Weibel from Hole in the Donut interrupts her travels around Mexico to play host to the Blogging Boomers.  Here's the link you need to find out what's been keeping us occupied since the last update.

What will you call yourself once you retire?

A new client told me about her friends' name for a person who has retired and not really managed to establish a new identity for themselves in retirement - a 'wasa'.  When asked what they do, they reply 'I was a (insert pre-retirement profession here)'.

Will you be happy to be a 'wasa' once you retire?  Or will you feel compelled to build a new identity for yourself? 

My client, who still has plenty of projects she wants to pursue, both paid and unpaid, thinks that she'll refer to herself as a portfolio worker - defined at dictionary.com as 'a person employed in a series of eclectic positions or in part-time or short-contract positions'.

Her friends, who coined the term 'wasa', were civil servants, but now make a living as artists now that they are retired.  Other people, who still do occasional work for their old company or clients, prefer to be known as consultants and those who are finally free to start up retirement businesses can call themselves entrepreneurs.

So, what about you?  What will you call yourself once you retire?

Great Quotes - On Earth Day

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanic Eruptions.  She may not be happy right now, but she's all we've got.  Let's take care of her.

Hugh MacLeod, Gaping Void

Money could buy you a longer life

Although we learned yesterday that taking early retirement won't prolong your life, it turns out that having money will! 

As UK IFA, Martin Bamford, writes on his Informed Choice blog, 'New analysis by longevity experts Club Vita has found that there is a strong correlation between high affluence and increased life expectancy' and that 'in 70% of local authorities it was found that household income could predict the area’s life expectancy to within a single year'.  Read more here.

Quick Links

From the Daily Mail (UK): Retiring early could cut your life short

Blogging Boomers Carnival #158

In the Blogging Boomers Carnival this week, you can read about everything from springtime travel, fashion, business and Boomer financial concerns, to emotional issues like elder care, marriage, and happiness.  Our host this week is Laura Lee Carter and you can find her and the rest of the Blogging Boomers here.

Want to know how to set up a website?

If you have an idea for a retirement business and you want to discover how simple it is to get a website up and running, KISS Training (Keep It Simple Software Training) are starting a series of free Wordpress Webinars to help you do just that. 

All you need to do is book onto a webinar where Eileen will demonstrate the easy process for you. The first webinar is today, Thursday 15th April at 12.30 pm (GMT), but don't worry if you miss it because they're holding training sessions on Monday evenings and Thursday afternoons until mid-May. 

During this overview KISS Training will show you how simple it is to:

•  Set up and use permalinks
•  Add video, pictures to your site
•  Add pages and posts to your site
•  Add plugins to your site

and much more... 

Use the following link to book your place: http://tinyurl.com/y5dha5s.

How much time do you spend doing what you love?

Now that I've finally retrieved all my possessions from storage following my latest house move, I'm revisiting some of the books in my collection.  I'm currently re-reading 'You Can Have What You Want' by Michael Neill and I was reminded of a great idea in there which is designed to help the reader spend more of their time doing what they love and less doing what they dislike (or even hate!):

'Each month, stop doing at least one thing that drags you down and add at least two things to your life that you love.'

So, we've still got half of the month left... what thing are you going to stop doing this month and what are you going to replace it with? 

I've already done mine - I've stopped cutting my own grass and hired someone to do it for me.  (I know that hiring someone to do it for me is not exactly something that I 'love', but I loved the feeling of not having to cut the grass myself and I got a great deal of pleasure out of the fact that it takes me at least 90 minutes of my time, twice a month during growing season to cut that darned grass and I hate every single minute of it, so I'll be freeing up 3 hours a month to do something much more pleasurable.)

Let me know what you're giving up and what you're replacing it with by leaving a comment below...