Retirement from work is the hope and aspiration of practically every man from the age of fifty up. We say “man” because a woman never retires. She may share or help her husband in his retirement, and perhaps ease up on her own work, but to actually retire the way a man does is not in woman’s domain. From the first day o£ marriage to the moment she closes her eyes for the last time in her life she is constantly occupied. Housework, children, shopping, cooking, sewing, social duties, and many other tasks will keep a woman busy when the man cannot find a thing to do. We will, therefore, concern ourselves here only with the man, but what affects him may also include the woman.
The meaning of retirement is to give up working for a living. The day-in, day-out drudgery of many years of work presses heavily upon a man’s mind. He yearns for a change, for a let-up of responsibilities. In advanced age, especially if one is suffering from illness, retirement is a necessity. However, retirement from working for a living should not mean complete cessation of activity — it should only be a modification of it. To stop being active, sit in a rocking chair, smoke a pipe, listen to the radio, watch television or read, and at the same time eat the usual three meals a day surely means inviting trouble. Before long, various pains will set in: indigestion, constipation, and a score of ailments requiring medical treatment. Before one knows it one becomes an invalid and departs from this earth. The human body is made to be active and any organ or part of it will become atrophied when not in use. Food consumed in excess of what the body needs for its maintenance and expenditure of energy will either turn into dead fatty tissues or else will not digest and turn sour, ferment, and poison the body.
Retirement must be carefully planned and prepared for a long time in advance. The first consideration is the time of giving up your lifelong occupation. The average age of retirement is about sixty-five. Depending on the financial status, business, or work circumstances, condition of health, family, and various other reasons the age is modified to suit the individual. The age of sixty-five is convenient because it is legally the time to begin collecting the government old-age pension which serves as a foundation of financial support in most cases.
The next consideration is the financial status. One should carefully figure out his assets and probable budget so that he will not find himself financially embarrassed at any time later.
Third, comes the place of retirement. Most people living in cold or temperate climates are fed up with the struggle against the elements — heat in the summer, cold in the winter, slush, dust, winds, and so on. They yearn for a mild, moderate climate, pleasant and healthful all year around. Such climates may be found in Florida, around the Pacific shores of Southern California, in some parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. One should consult government and travel bureaus on this matter before contemplating any important move.
Next comes the question of occupation — what to do when retired? A part-time job for a few hours a day or a couple of days a week is very helpful. Regular light work in your garden or home shop, or a small business or service enterprise of some kind, will constitute a useful occupation that will keep your mind and muscles in running order.
While in retirement the most important thing for one is to have an interest in life. You must have friends, belong to a church, clubs, and organizations, and do active work in them. Take interest in local affairs, national politics, science, music, go to lectures, do a moderate amount of reading, find yourself some interesting hobbies (and there are lots of them), change those hobbies from time to time. Take up various courses of study. There are many interesting subjects given in night courses for adults in our high schools. Take up dancing, roller skating, swimming. Never let your age deter or embarrass you from taking up these avocations — you will benefit by them immensely both physically and mentally.
Pay attention to your health by doing a great deal of walking. Discard the use of your car unless the occasion for it is urgent. Do your calisthenics and deep-breathing exercises regularly. Above all, watch your diet closely. Eliminate most of the starchy, fatty, sweet and acid-forming foods. Do not overeat or indulge in smoking or drinking. Have a cheerful, positive mental attitude. Be kind, friendly, humorous, and entertaining with others. You will find happiness in your retirement you have never dreamed of if you follow these simple rules of living.
It is not advisable for the retired man, as some do, to spend all his time at home with his wife. Usually the woman has her regular undiminished housework to do and her husband, who is almost completely unoccupied, is only in her way. To ease the woman’s work the man often helps her along. However, many men resent both this work and the idea of being a helper — at that, usually a second-rate one. Helping a wife regularly in the housework is a very unsatisfactory arrangement since the woman has years of experience in that work, while the man is all but helpless in it and so must assume the role of errand boy, if not worse.
As a result of staying continually in the house the man can hardly find a proper place for himself there. He is constantly on his wife’s toes; both become irritable and quarrelsome; this leads to small rifts which gradually develop into quarrels. Soon all harmony is lost in that home which originally was to become a paradise of life’s dreams of retirement.
Even if he has no definite regular work to occupy himself the man still should manage to spend most of his day outside. He can join a club of other retired men engaged in playing games, discussing politics, business, or the like; team up with a friend to spend the days together; attend a library or school regularly; maintain a small office or shop for some light occupation even if it is only for reading a book; in short, do anything in order to avoid being thrown together with a busy wife. You will be a welcome guest when you come back home to your wife who is done with her work, has prettied herself up, and is ready to go places with you. A lot more harmony in the mutual relationship of both husband and wife as well as more health and happiness will be the result of such an arrangement.
In conclusion, let us point out that retirement may be turned into either hell or paradise according to the way you go about it. It is up to you to choose the best way and reap the corresponding rewards.
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