Whether or not you enjoy your retirement is in many ways up to you. Of course there may be unavoidable circumstances that affect how your retirement goes, but I’m speaking generally. If you think of retirement as a time when you can finally rest from your work, lay around, and do what you want when you want, your likely to find that retirement is a bit boring. If you haven’t taken good care of your body while working, or have an unavoidable health issue, you may be physically unable to do all that you hoped. But even then, I think retirement has the potential of being a fun time in life depending upon what we do with the time.
- Get out and educate yourself, you’re never too old to take a class in a college setting or offered by your community. Keep learning, keep exercising you mind.
- Get physical exercise. Keep your body moving. Feed it well. As you get older, your body will “complain” now and then, but don’t let it stop you!
- Read a good book, a good clean book if I can put in my personal 2 cents.
- Keep yourself on the right course spiritually. For me this is most definitely keeping myself in God’s word, the Bible. I’ve studied and read the Word since childhood, and lately I’ve been listening to it on CD’s. It’s impacted me in a different way, hearing it read to me. I believe you can even listen to it read at some online websites.
- Learn your way around the Internet. There are so many resources available. Find a class just on that and learn what you can!
- Volunteer in your community, there is such a need for this.
- If you need extra income, find a way to do a little something at home, look at some of the ideas suggested on this blog. More ideas will be added regularly!
- Find something each day to be thankful for, start a journal and write those things down, even during the challenging times.
Just a few of many, many ideas, and some of them don’t cost you a thing!
Have a great day!
Here is a great article I stumbled on while surfing the net, about the coming wave of “mature women” entrepreneurs. It is from the http://www.grandmabiz.com website. Here’s the article, although I may not agree with every detail, generally, there is a lot to be learned from the article.
Introduction:
There is a growing trend in the field of the home based business which is retired female workers getting in on the massive amount of money to be made. The list of products and services that the older worker can provide is almost endless. Older workers usually come from the school of thought that if a job is worth doing it is worth doing properly and this gives them the edge in modern business. I know I would trust an older person to do a job a lot more than a younger person.
The empowering effect of a retired female worker augmenting a restrictive retirement income or better yet, getting off welfare and starting her own home based business, is spreading like wild fire as one person seeing the benefits tells another; the growth is exponential.
One of the biggest problems facing retired people is the amount of idle time they have when they leave the work force. It leads to depression and feelings of general worthlessness. Both of these things are combated quite effectively by a retired female worker starting her own work from home based business.
Avoiding Scams
It is not all smooth sailing though for the retired female worker who decides to take this route. Many obstacles that she has never come up against before will surely pop up and if she has no support or guidance in the ways of modern business it can be fraught with pitfalls. Some of the difficult things that the retired female worker is likely to encounter are the ever present internet scams that seem to raise their ugly head at every corner you turn. A person with no experience in the wicked ways of the internet fraudster is much more likely to fall for the riches they promise.
The most common of these is the multilevel marketing company that does not follow the government rules and regulations for how they sell their wares to the home based business operator. This can eat up the very limited capital that most retired female workers have to spend on starting up their home based business. One of the others is discrimination from young males in the business who deem the world of internet marketing as their own domain.
Handling Discrimination
Discrimination was not a major issue for most of the retired female workers when they were young for the reason that oppression of woman was just accepted. In this day and age discrimination and discriminatory attitudes can land a company or person in very hot water. There a few organizations out there that cater to the specific needs of the retired female worker who wishes to start her own home based business. These organizations will provide information on how to deal with discrimination and will also provide help with almost any facet of starting your own home based business.
Resources for the Mature Woman Entrepreneur
AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, is an organization that caters not only to retired female workers but to older workers in general. AARP is a North American organization that caters to people over fifty and will help to provide information on pretty much anything that concerns older people such as health, investment and small business information, Medicare and where to find the best insurance.
There are however some sites that cater to the specific needs of the retired female worker and one of them is called WAHM. Work at home mothers is set up to provide support and advice to any female with children or grandchildren that has a vested interest in starting or continuing a home based business. This can range from financial backing without the discrimination hassle or just counseling for when things get too tough to handle on your own.
Another site on the net that is dedicated to women is the MLM woman’s newsletter. This reviews problems and solutions specific to the needs of the home based business woman that is involved in multilevel marketing. Any retired female worker that wants to start a home based business can rest assured that there is plenty of support out there and you do not have to do it alone.
by Ted Riley, (c) 2004 Android Technologies, Inc.
Four Generations of Hands
This is one of those heart-warming stories that finds it’s way around the email circuits, and was shared by a woman on discussion group I belong to. I immediately thought of my own grandmother’s hands, sitting next to her as a child, looking at those hands as they held mine. Read this simple but beautiful story, and do enjoy!
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Grandma, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench. She didn’t move, just sat with her head down staring at her hands. When I sat down beside her she didn’t acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if she was OK. Finally, not really wanting to disturb her but wanting to check on her at the same time, I asked her if she was OK. She raised her head and looked at me and smiled. ‘Yes, I’m fine, thank you for asking,’ she said in a clear voice strong.
‘I didn’t mean to disturb you, grandma, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK,’ I explained to her.
‘Have you ever looked at your hands,’ she asked. ‘I mean really looked at your hands?’
I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point she was making.
Grandma smiled and related this story:
‘Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands, though wrinkled shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life. They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor.
They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child, my mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots. They held my husband and wiped my tears when he went off to war.
‘They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent. They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special They wrote my letters to him and trembled and shook when I buried my parents and spouse.
‘They have held my children and grandchildren, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn’t understand.
They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken,dried and raw. And to this day when not much of anything else of me works real well these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer.
‘These hands are the mark of where I’ve been and the ruggedness of life. But more importantly it will be these hands that God will reach out and take when he leads me home. And with my hands He will lift me to His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of Christ.’
I will never look at my hands the same again. But I remember God reached out and took my grandma’s hands and led her home.
When my hands are hurt or sore or when I stroke the face of my children and husband I think of grandma. I know she has been stroked and caressed and held by the hands of God.
I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel His hands upon my face.
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