Planning on Retiring Soon?
Here’s Four Considerations for Your Mental Health
If you’re on the cusp of retiring, you’ve likely spent a considerable amount of time, energy and effort preparing for this transition. You may have spent many hours meeting with your financial planner or accountant, consistently contributed to a retirement savings plan, maintained an investment portfolio, and stuck to a spending plan among many other things to ensure a secure and fruitful retirement.
Relatively less time, energy, and effort is typically spent thinking about one’s mental health post-retirement. But why, you might ask? Isn’t retirement inherently satisfying because of the new freedoms and opportunities it affords? Not for everyone.
Retirement can bring a loss of routine, a change in identity, increased isolation, inactivity, and feeling useless or irrelevant. This can make some retirees feel anxious, depressed, lonely, and lost. You could have all the money in the bank to retire comfortably but risk not being able to enjoy it and live your life to the fullest if your mental health deteriorates.
If you’re getting close to retiring, it’s important to consider how you’ll maintain your mental health after making this significant life transition. Being proactive about your mental health post-retirement could help reduce the risk of an episode of anxiety or depression, and help you have a full and satisfying ‘third act’. Here’s four exercises to complete to help prepare mentally, emotionally, and socially for retirement. I’d recommend grabbing a notebook and writing down your responses.
1. Expand your perspective of retirement
I’ve seen numerous clients in my clinical practice who feel anxious about retiring because they assume it means completely withdrawing from their professional lives. It’s important to remind yourself that retirement is not one-size-fits-all. While some individuals will retire from work completely, others will continue to work part-time or do contract work as they see fit. Others don’t stop working at all! There’s no rules for how to retire ‘properly’. Ultimately, it should reflect your needs, wants, and personality. If you’re someone who needs the stimulation, satisfaction, and routine that work provides, your plan for retirement may include some form of part-time work. If you’re eager to expand your hobbies or are thirsty for a chance to explore the far corners of the world, you may choose to retire from work completely. To think outside the box about retirement, you may want to survey a variety of retirees in your life and explore how different people spend their golden years.
2. Consider what you’ll miss about working
Even if you’re itching to cross the finish line of your working years, chances are there will be things you’ll miss about your career. It could be your daily routine, a chance to work with others on solving problems, the satisfaction that comes with accomplishing something, talking with a trusted co-worker, an annual bonus or other benefits. Taking stock of what you’ll miss about work helps you identify your needs post-retirement. If you know you’ll miss solving problems, volunteering for a non-profit organization or getting involved in a community group could be up your alley. If you’ll miss having a routine, spend some time planning out the new daily routines you could adopt. If the social opportunities will be a big loss, plan regular get-togethers with work colleagues or have standing dates with friends during the week.
3. Give yourself permission to dream
Some individuals have mixed feelings about retiring and may even dread the idea of having to fill their days with activities aside from work. It can be a huge adjustment to go from a regular, predictable schedule to one that is wide open and up to you to fill. Instead of feeling daunted by the open space, give yourself permission to dream about how you might spend your days. Close your eyes (humour me for a moment) and imagine your ideal day as a retired person. Don’t get caught up in practicalities just yet. Allow yourself to fantasize. What time are you getting up? How are you starting the day? Are you at home or leaving the house during the day? Who are you seeing? What are projects are you working on? What goals are you working toward? What do you most look forward to doing during the day? How do you end the day? Who are your points of social contact during the day? Dreaming up the answers to some or all of these questions can help you start to identify what your ideal days might look like. And maybe even look forward to it! Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers yet. The point is to allow yourself to fantasize and brainstorm.
4. Create community
Our workplaces naturally embed us within a community of people that provide ample opportunities for social interaction and if we’re lucky, friendship and social support. One of the biggest challenges of retirement can be adjusting to not having the same amount of social engagement as we’re used to. This is problematic given that social engagement and support is one of the strongest predictors of life satisfaction in late life (1) and it is protective against both physical (2) and cognitive decline (3). Being intentional and proactive about how you’ll remain socially engaged is one of the most important things you can do as you plan for retirement. Start thinking about who your important people will be post-retirement by taking stock of your current supports:
Who can I talk to about my day?
Who can I engage in my hobbies or activities with?
Who can I call if I need help?
Who can I share my feelings with?
Who can I call in an emergency?
Who do I have the most fun with?
If you’re lucky, you’ll have a number of people you can turn to for different types of support. If you’re struggling to come up with answers to these questions, consider this a nudge to try to establish new friendships or deepen your existing social relationships in your life. There’s always time to improve your social life.
Although retirement has the potential to be a risk factor for mental health difficulties in late life, it also has the potential to the be the start of a rich and fulfilling chapter of your life. Doing some advanced planning for your mental health can help you make the most of this time in life. For more help planning and preparing for the psychological, emotional and social aspects of retirement, consider reaching out to a psychologist with experience in this area.
(1) Siedlecki, K.L., Salthouse, T.A., Oishi, S. et al. The Relationship Between Social Support and Subjective Well-Being Across Age. Soc Indic Res 117, 561–576 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0361-4
(2) Bennett, K.M. Social engagement as a longitudinal predictor of objective and subjective health. Eur J Ageing 2, 48–55 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-005-0501-z
(3) Krueger KR, Wilson RS, Kamenetsky JM, Barnes LL, Bienias JL, Bennett DA. Social engagement and cognitive function in old age. Exp Aging Res. 2009 Jan-Mar;35(1):45-60. doi: 10.1080/03610730802545028. PMID: 19173101; PMCID: PMC2758920.
This post is for informational purposes only and should not be considered therapeutic advice or a replacement for individual therapy. For more information on locating a psychologist near you, please contact your family doctor, the Ontario Psychological Association, the Canadian Association for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or Psychology Today
