Retirement is around the corner and you are concerned. How are you going to spend your time? Before you know it what you feared would happen happens. You were told your services are no longer needed. Now what?

Our society is so very oriented to youth that it is easy to overlook the advantage of age. Advantages you ask? It was easier when we were younger and did not hurt so much. When you were thirty, age seemed so far away but it eventually catches up to us. The changes in our body and body shape seem to accelerate in our forties and fifties while the list of medications and surgical procedures grows longer.

Making you feel even worse is your services are no longer needed. You cannot play bridge or golf or fish all day every day. By now you are starting to feel lonely. Some of your family members and friends are ill and some have died. Reminders of your mortality are not what you needed just now. Besides you have bigger worries such as will your money last your life?

Feeling this sense of separation from a previous active life gives you a better understanding about why so many seniors are taking anti depression medications. It seems like your value to others as well as your own self esteem have dropped off the map. Where are the challenges, the fun, and the involvement? Life does not have much of a shape anymore and it is depressing. It is also scary.This is the down side of getting to retirement. Change is frightening for everyone. Sometimes we focus so much on what we lost or stand to lose that we forget to consider all that we can gain.

There is another side, however a very different picture of just as many people who do not spend time mourning about what they lost but welcome what they have now. All systems, including your family and friends and yourself resist change. Midlife and beyond seems to be the time when we renegotiate our feelings of worth, our relationships at home and with our children who have moved away.

The fact is we are healthier and more alive than people our age just 20 years ago. Medical science has extended our life and our levels of energy. Most of us are a lot more sure of ourselves than we were when we were younger. If you are not sure, think back to your years in Junior High.Time has given us the ability to use our experiences to solve problems and make judgments. Wisdom is the word many use to describe this ability.

One of the most important things that we have learned is the gift of time. We were careless about it in our youth. Reckless about it in our teens. Then too busy for the next 30 years to not pay attention to it so we never did the things we always wanted to do. Retirement has once again given us the gift of time.

There are professionals and business owners who love what they do and plan to continue their work. However, they want to see more of their children and grandchildren live 600 miles away. They have changed their work schedule to give them the time to make those visits and maintain local family relationships and friendships. Employees who are fortunate to work for companies that appreciate their skills and willingly accommodate the changing lifestyles of seniors, work out a flex schedule with management.

It is difficult to accept that our energy level and physical abilities are declining. However, that does not mean we cannot do the things we want to do. Even tennis players and marathon runners are grouped according to their age. After all, a heavy weight wrestler does not compete with a light weight wrestler in college athletics. Neither do Class A and Class C high school football teams compete.

Make a list of the things you absolutely love to do. If money is not an issue, how would you spend your perfect day? What do you want your physical setting to be? Who are the people you want to see? The places you want to go? The activities you want to do? The pace at which you want to move? Are you seeking relaxation or excitement? Your answers will give you a good foundation for your thinking.