Anxiety After Retirement: When the Usual Coping Tricks Stop Working

Retirement anxiety, post-stroke emotional regulation, medical trauma, and the uneasy business of becoming human again after the detours. In Brief Retirement can remove the structure that once helped keep anxiety contained, especially after major health detours like cancer treatment and a hemorrhagic stroke. In this Active Aging reflection, I look at retirement anxiety, post-stroke emotional regulation, medical trauma, irritability, and the practical search for counselling The Uncomfortable Thing I’m Noticing I have been thinking about retirement, aging, and the uncomfortable possibility that I am becoming harder to live with. That is not an easy sentence to write. It is tempting … Continue reading Anxiety After Retirement: When the Usual Coping Tricks Stop Working

scenic country road at golden hour sunset

The Art of the Stumble: Finding Balance in the Uncharted Journey

The journey into retirement sometimes begins abruptly, when we aren’t completely ready for it. We thought we were ready. Are you ready? Have you got your finances in order? Do you have an activity plan? We are pitched on the … Continue reading The Art of the Stumble: Finding Balance in the Uncharted Journey

A Journey to Fulfillment? Distractions! Caught in a Loop!

A journey to fulfillment? Uh, no. Guess what? Distracted again! Caught in a loop! A Journey to Fulfillment stymied. Do you remember my commitment to setting priorities for all those goals and self-imposed deadlines that I intended to put in place or had been putting in place when last I posted? Caught in a loop!  Distracted again! Speed bumps on a journey to fulfillment! Well, guess what,? I’ve missed most of them because there’s still just too much to do and I have allowed the outside world to get a toe hold in my focus and my imagination. For instance, … Continue reading A Journey to Fulfillment? Distractions! Caught in a Loop!

Changing focus…

While the original purpose of this blog was to present my somewhat self indulgent views, it changed when I was ambushed by oral cancer a little over seven years ago.  This past November (2013) was the six anniversary of the beginnings of the treatments to rid me of that particular foul demon.  November is the month that marks the anniversary of the surgical intervention.  May is the month that marks the my return to work, and that I use as the beginning of ‘my new normal’. I had tried to get back to discussing the goings on in the world with this … Continue reading Changing focus…