Rock Your Retirement Show

Diane Dahli's Retirement Journey Diane Dahli is a retired teacher of 15 years. She is all about enjoying her retirement and living her passion, which is currently her blog. It took a Diane awhile to realize her passion and purpose post-retirement. After attempting to jump back into the classroom and sitting still for quite some time, she decided to pursue writing in the form of a blog. She has loved it ever since and would like to continue doing it as long as she can. Her Retirement Journey Diane also loves to read. She has read books like The Writer’s Way and The Purpose of Life. She also joined a self-awareness group in the midst of trying to discover her purpose. Diane wasn’t looking for busyness in her retirement, she was looking for purpose, something meaningful. She found herself wondering if she retired too early if there was something else she needed to do in teaching. After applying for a job in a classroom, she got a job in a resource room. It was a very intense position. At the end of six months, s

Do you need to downsize your home? What about downsizing your life? Why are these things beneficial as we retire? Kathy Gottberg is a published author of six books along with numerous magazine articles. On her blog, SMARTliving365.com, Kathy explores ideas and experiences to help create a sustainable, meaningful, happy and rewarding life for herself and others. Since turning 60, Kathy has become increasingly interested in ideas around positive aging and retirement. Learn more about rightsizing and why downsizing doesn’t have to be a downgrade in this episode. On today’s show we discuss: * Rightsizing vs. downsizing * Why rightsizing is so beneficial as we age and retire * How to rightsize What is rightsizing? Anything you have in your life requires energy, time and effort to maintain. The beauty of rightsizing is it allows you to choose what’s important to you. Use your time, energy and resources on the things you value most. You can rightsize just about anything in your life. Rightsizing is about getting r

Let’s talk about senior dating – how to date and build intimate relationships as we age Walker Thornton is 63 years old with a background in Educational Psychology. She has been a writer for years, writing poetry and journaling. Walker started dating post-divorce in her early 50's and started writing about it. She realized there wasn’t a whole lot of information for older women when it came to dating and relationships. Walker works with individuals to talk about relationships. She has conversations with men and women to revamp their dating profile. She is sometimes called “The Sex Whisperer”. Senior Dating – The first thing you need to do if you are ready to get out there: Make sure you are ready and you are not rushing to fill a void. Your desire to go out with someone should be based on mutual interest. Often people rush into the dating world in despair which can lead to not wise choices. Think about what you are looking for. Are you looking for marriage, a long-term relationship, romance, sex o

Today I wanted to give you things I do to connect spiritually You might not affiliate yourself with any one religion.  Or you might consider yourself to be “spiritual”. This episode is not trying to convert you, just to spark your creativity on how you can connect more to your spiritual side. If you listen to the show you know that I’m a follower of Christ, but I wasn’t always.  And even today, I’m considered a bit unorthodox by many of my Christian friends. Much of what I believe today is influenced by what I was taught as a child, which doesn’t necessarily match what others think. This might be you. So today I’m going to tell you what I personally do to connect spiritually.  You can take some of it for yourself or leave it.  That’s up to you. Connect with Nature: First let’s talk about something that anyone can do, and that is connect with nature. When I’m feeling disconnected, frustrated, or basically just un-spiritual, I tend to want to go outside.  I like going outside and standing in the daylight.  I go

I brought Veronica Mitchell on the show to talk about resilience in retirement Veronica is an advocate for seniors, women, and caregivers. She writes her own blog and is a sought-after public speaker. Veronica has an approach that combines her excellent verbal, emotional and social intelligence with her funny sense of humor and curiosity for life. She wanted to talk about building resilience in your life so you can move forward through life transitions and stay positive, even thrive after trauma, loss, and death. Learn more about Veronica’s personal experiences and advice for resilience in this episode. What is resilience? * The ability to adapt yourself to diversity. * To be able to cope and recover from trauma and stress. * Being able to get through tough times and being able to thrive afterward. * To be able to continue and grow. Veronica shared her experience with us She had a traumatic brain injury years ago in a car accident. Veronica had a concussive syndrome for a very long time. She had to cancel h

Structure in Retirement James Metz is an 83-year-old who loves playing tennis and golf. He spends much of his time in active competition rather than exercise studios or on exercise bikes. He leads a very active lifestyle. While James is happily married, loves traveling and stays active, he finds that he doesn’t have a lot of male friends. James and I met through SCORE and he reached out to me in response to one of my newsletters James sold his business in Houston and moved in December of 1994. He soon found himself restless. James had a background in retail but soon found himself representing Sears. He claims it was one of the happiest times in his life. I wanted to see if I could help him find structure in retirement and his daily activities Today James faces a lull in the evenings, usually between 6 and 9 P.M. He has volunteered, been certified as a mediator and worked. Learn more about James and listen in on a brainstorming session about ways James could get involved during this episode. What is a certifie

Stephanie Cunningham came on the show to talk about her retirement in a different county. On Today’s Show we discuss: * Retirement in a different country * Stephanie’s bicycle tour * Decrease in social status after retirement * Stephanie’s cultural transition in Australia * Needing a reason to be on this earth or sacrificing happiness * Value of community in Australia * Money isn’t everything Stephanie was born, raised and worked in Colorado until she took early retirement to join a round the world bicycle tour. While on the tour, she found Australia and decided to move there. Because of visa regulations at that time, she couldn’t work, which forced her into an early retirement. Trying all of the activities that are traditional in retirement left her unfulfilled and wanting more. The Bicycle Tour The bicycle tour was a millennial trip. While it wasn’t an inexpensive trip, it was for a whole year. Stephanie did a lot of physical training for the trip. It was recommended each rider do at least 6,000 miles bef

On today’s episode, I am sharing 25 clever life hacks to improve your health. I found this article at https://gethealthyu.com/clever-life-hacks-improve-health/ that gives some pretty clever life hacks. I thought I would share them with you 1.  Start every morning with a glass of water and freshly squeezed lemon or 100 percent natural grade lemon oil I actually don't understand what this does to our body. I always hear “Drink an alkaline water”. If you know what it does, please comment below!. 2. Sweat it out before you get in the shower This sounds easy to do but it's not! I heard that when you sit in a sauna for 30 minutes, one of its benefits is raising your metabolism to exercise. 3. Never eat a bad egg again I found a perfect hack for this. Les bought me an instapot. Did you know that you can use your pressure cooker to boil eggs? It's also very easy to peel! 4. Meditate to clear your mind I find it very hard to just sit there and meditate. There are plenty of apps you can use to help you medi

I brought Karen Poirer-Brode on the show to not only talk about scrapbooking, but about developing creativity. After retirement, Karen launched a podcast called A Creative Approach Podcast. She shares stories of people who used creativity to their own advantage and worked through challenges with a creative approach. Karen loves storytelling and uses it as an art and way to connect. In addition, Karen also has a blog called Karen’s Corner of The Web. She also spends time volunteering and working as a Scrapbooker. On Today’s Show we discuss: * Karen’s love for scrapbooking, art and photography * The spiritual impact of art * Scrapbook crops * Developing creativity  * Family memories around crafting activities * How scrapbooking relates to the 6 pillars of retirement Developing creativity through scrapbooking Scrapbooking is Karen's way of making stories. She does digital scrapbooking and traditional scrapbooking. Karen's teacher discouraged her from art when she was little and she wouldn't discover that she h

How volunteering Keeps You Young Fred Shatsky is our guest for today’s episode. Fred is a 77-year-old retiree who has been married for 50 years. He is a proud father and grand father of two sons and two grandchildren. Fred was a US Naval Officer and worked as a pharmacist for 35 years. Now he volunteers for the USS Midway Carrier Museum and the San Diego Zoo. He is also a member of Get Off Your Rockers. I asked Fred how he found his volunteer position. Sometimes it is always easy to know where to look or where to start when you want to begin volunteering. Fred suggest looking online as there is many volunteering opportunities For Fred, it was a matter of good luck and good timing in his situation. Fred’s interest in the USS Midway Carrier Museum started as a nostalgia thing. He saw an advertisement for volunteers. At the time, he didn’t know exactly what he was volunteering for but knew he was interested. He is now a docent for the USS Midway Carrier Museum. He spends his time interacting with people, guiding

Finding the love of your life as an older adult can be an elusive proposition Alan told his friend that he's going to be in our podcast and he will be talking about love. His friend's reaction was “You?! A love doctor? That's a real laugh. You've never been any good at love. The only luck you ever have is love with your novels.” She knows Alan very well that's why she had that opinion. Alan had some long-term relationships that didn't work out. Alan easily finds love but struggles to maintain relationships. In this episode, Alan shares his past dating experiences, why he thinks they didn’t work out and how he plans to navigate romance going forward. Alan isn’t on dating sites and he doesn’t go on blind dates but he puts himself out there in various ways, such as dancing. On Today’s Show we discuss: * 6 pillars of retirement * Selfishness in relationships * Getting and Keeping love * The difficulty of connecting as you get older  What Alan Has Learned from Past Experiences That Will Help in Futur

Traveling affects relationships. Sometimes it can bring couples closer together, and sometimes it can put a strain on the relationship. There is a saying “couples who travel together, stay together”.. ok, I made that up. I don't think it is an actual saying. I wanted to dig into the topic of how traveling affects relationships. As a lot of you may know, my husband Les and I enjoy traveling. We wanted to share some of our experiences and tips we have gathered over the years to make it less stressful and a more enjoyable time. Here are some things that you may need to talk about and might have an impact on why traveling affects relationships * Preparation * Talk about how you're going to travel. Example, how much luggage you will be bringing, and the type of clothes you will be packing. Create a packing list or use the checklist I provided below at the end of the show notes. * Timeframes * Discuss how many days, weeks or months are you going to stay there? * How much money you are going to sp

Aging Consciously what does it mean? Aging consciously is aging with intention, aging with a sense of purpose and aging with a with a real commitment to grow into becoming one of the very best in this third stage or third chapter of life that Ron often calls “elderhood”. Ron thinks you could contrast aging consciously with this kind of drifting into getting old. Believing that with retirement or with retirement age, the best years are behind you. Your years of contribution and making a difference are behind you. Believing that it's kind of a matter of hanging on as best one can and hope for the best. It's incredibly enlivening. Aging consciously is supportive of the health of body, mind and spirit. If you have a real sense of purpose in aging and is intentional about moving toward that. Ron believes that baby boomers are going to be the driving force in creating an empowering vision for aging. He thinks baby boomers are playing the lead role in helping our society see that our third chapter can be

Let’s talk about longevity Judy Gaman is our guest for today’s episode. Judy is a graduate of the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the School of Professional Studies. She is an age to perfection expert, longevity educator, author and nationally syndicated radio show host of the Staying Young Show. Judy strives to educate and inspire people. She has four books and is currently working on two more. What is the Staying Young Show? Judy show is called “Staying Young” and it started when a radio station called her and said that they're closing. They asked her if she would like to take over the show. She happily accepted the offer. They grew in Dallas and got another offer in North Carolina and now broadcasting in 57 stations. The Staying Young show talks about anything that relates to health or longevity. There are so many things that we do that impact our longevity. On Today’s Show we discuss: * All things longevity * 6 pillars of retirement * Advice for socialization * No

Let's talk about Forced Retirement Marianne Oehser is our guest for today's podcast episode. She came on our show to discuss forced retirements and how to cope if it happens to you. One example of Forced Retirement that Marianne gave us is “Rich” one of her clients. Here's his story: Rich worked for the government and handled one of the largest and most important departments. All of a sudden, that department was eliminated. Now when this happened, it created a lot of challenges for him. Like many, he is facing a forced retirement. When Marianne and Rich started working together, it became really clear how depressed he was. He had trouble getting up in the morning and by mid-afternoon, he barely had the energy to read the paper. When Marianne talked to him, it seemed like he had lost his sense of purpose in his life. “This happens when you're not ready to retire,” Marianne said. A forced retirement can bring up a lot of emotions One of the first few emotions you might feel is anger then

How can Seasonal Jobs help you Rock your Retirement? Kelcy Fowler and Matt Moore are the new owners of CoolWorks.com. What is CoolWorks? CoolWorks has been a leader in connecting people seeking meaningful and exciting work with the employers who are looking for their enthusiasm. energy, and knowledge. They believe that you can and should love your job, and they want to help make that happen! They post job opportunities in great places– everything from national parks to ski resorts to retreat centers. and everything in between. Their journal profiles the exciting stories from CoolWorkers to inspire you to take that next step. Whether you are still discovering your passion, need a seasonal career, or just feel the call to change paths, they have everything you need to help you find your next great adventure. Let's meet the owners: Kelcy is considered to be the Magic Wand Wielder, helping others pursue their own “grand” adventure. And Matt calls himself the Employer Wingman and Captain of Contracts. He’s got a t

Have you ever heard of House Sitting? My husband and I have a running argument about traveling. I want to travel more. He's concerned about the cost of getting care for our two rescue dogs, Izzy and Winky, and my Moluccan cockatoo Mr. Grant. And it's not just the cost. It's the upheaval that the animals have to go through when we leave. So when I found out about these house sitting websites that are out there, I HAD to dig deeper and learn more. What is a House Sitting service? House sitting is the practice whereby a person leaving their house for a period of time entrusts it to one or more “house-sitters”, who by a mutual agreement are entitled to live or stay there temporarily. Either in paid positions or rent-free, in exchange for assuming any combination of responsibilities, such as taking care of the homeowner's pets, performing general maintenance (including pools, lawns, air-conditioning systems etc.), keeping trespassers off the property, readdressing the mail, and in general, making sure

Have you thought about creating your own Adventure in Retirement? This podcast episode falls under the 2nd pillar, Significant Other (Be adventurous with your spouse), in the Six Pillars of Retirement. Jim Palmer is a marketing and business building expert and in-demand coach. He is the founder of the Dream Biz Academy and Dream Business Coaching and Mastermind Program. Jim is the host of Newsletter Guru TV, the hit weekly Web TV show watched by thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners and he is also the host Stick Like Glue Radio, a weekly podcast based on Jim’s unique brand of smart marketing and business building strategies. Jim started thinking about and living his retirement lifestyle before retirement age. Instead of waiting for his retirement, he is living out a dream now while he continues to work. He and his wife sold their house and put the contents in storage. They are currently living on their boat, which is named Floating Home and traveling up and down the east coast. They are enjoyin

How to have a happy relationship with your spouse after retirement This podcast episode falls under Significant Other in the Six Pillars of Retirement. And today, our guest is Nora Hall, a dedicated problem solver, set out to find solutions to the struggles she and her husband encountered after he retired. Numerous interviews with retirees revealed that most couples experience similar stress during their adjustment period in retirement. Nora shares their stories and offers proven solutions and inspiration for all retired couples, to help them have a happy relationship and stay happily married. Prior to writing full time, Nora worked as a teacher, arts administrator, fundraiser, and writing consultant. Nora started writing her book and blog because when her husband retired, they didn't expect the change in their relationship. They didn't really anticipate anything about retirement but soon learned they weren't having fun and enjoying it. Nora started to wonder what was going on and decided she needed to find a

How to Find Meaning and Purpose in Retirement? Fritz Gilbert is the Founder of The Retirement Manifesto, a personal finance blog focused on helping People Achieve A Great Retirement.  Fritz will be retiring in the summer of 2018 at the age of 55, after 3 decades in Corporate America (most recently as a Commodity Trader).  He and his wife live in a cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia, just a few miles from the start of the Appalachian Trail.  They have a 23-year-old daughter who was married last summer and recently moved to Seattle.  After retirement, Fritz and his wife plan on traveling extensively with their 5th Wheel RV, as well as working with local charities and “giving back” to their community.  They are active in a dog rescue charity and have 4 rescue dogs who will be accompanying them during their travels. All though Fritz does have a personal finance blog, he thinks all of the other things to think about during retirement are even more important than finances. He calls it t