Retiree Rebels: Ditch The Rocking Chair!

Do you wake up in the morning feeling like you have an important role to play in the grand scheme of things? During those early months of retirement, folks often try to figure out what their purpose is now that they're not working. They wonder if they matter. Mary Helen views mattering through the lens of popular culture and the literature of transitions. She even shares a recipe on mattering you just might want to try.  

The quote is from the 1940s, said by the incomparable Bette Davis, and she was right, “Growing Older is NOT for Sissies.” But nowadays it’s true of retirement as well. In this Kitchen Table Talk, Mary Helen and Carol talk about the stress and tensions that come with retirement today, and how acknowledging the difficulties and planning for them can make us stronger.

Joy Cardin, host of the Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network program, The Joy Cardin Show interviewed the Retiree Rebels co-founders August 7, 2017. Retirement may be a time for taking it easy after a lot of hard work during the career. However, instead of enjoying leisure, some may find themselves bored. We talk with guests from the podcast, RetireeRebels.com, about the effects of boredom. Thanks to: Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2017, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

At age 74, Ellen Millar thought her life was over. Her physical problems had stolen her energy, her mobility, and her quality of life. Then she took her first yoga class. At age 78, Ellen is now a yoga teacher instructing other students in “The Wonder of Yoga,” the name of her new business. She teaches at Perennial Yoga Studio in Fitchburg, WI as well as traveling around in her “yoga-mobile” to area senior facilities sharing the practice that turned her life around and changed her perspective on aging.

For the nearly and newly retired, you don't need another to-do-list hanging over your head. You're retired. Mary Helen proposes that instead of that bucket list of things to do before you die, you change your mindset and become curious. She offers five great tips on keeping your mindset flexible and being as curious as a 5-year old. Change that old adage about curiosity killing the cat into curiosity keeps retirement amazing.

What do you do when your life and all your plans for the future explode? Any number of things can happen, an accident, a death in the family, job loss or retirement. For Jerry Huffman, it was a stroke. At age 55, Jerry was forced to reinvent who he was and how to make a living.  Now six years later, he sat down with Mary Helen and Carol to talk about the terror as well as the surprising gifts of this unplanned and dramatic pivot in his life.

How do you define time well spent? It is an individual judgement call for each of us. As Mary Helen and Carol discovered, how we define “time well spent” can be a great help in figuring out what we want to do during our bonus years. When we know what activities are satisfying, and feel like time well spent, then we have a measuring cup for what makes us happy.

Mary Helen talks of the remembering we need to do in retirement to help ourselves and our families continue to understand the legacy we will leave. Using her favorite holiday of July 4th she shows how remembering can make our past take focus in telling our stories.

Retirees learn early that reinventing yourself is part of this new stage of life, transitioning from what you once were to who you are now, incorporating all the latest changes. But over and over again?  Unfortunately, yes.  As Carol Larson recently found out –much to her disappointment.

Retirement is really a transition. Mary Helen reviews her five tips that help to create your exit strategy from the workplace and lead to stepping into your life. From planning to reinvention each of the five steps provides you options for reaching the position as CEO of your life.

Mary Helen has been asked by many clients this year about the affect retirement and aging have on adult children. Just as retirement has changed for the baby boomers so has how to have parents aging changed for children. The picnic table has been turned upside down as children start seeing that their parents aren't getting any younger. Join in the conversation whichever side of the table you're on.

The best time to retire is when you're ready. Absolutely! Mary Helen also thinks the best time just might be summer as well. Making friends, getting out and enjoying nature are three keys to a successful retirement. She proposes some great ways to do just that. Wait till you hear her summer games to retire with joy and fun.

This Memorial Day week Mary Helen remembers those veterans that have lost their lives in service to our country. It reminds her that many of the nearly and newly retired also want to remember their lives by writing a memoir. She presents 5 outrageous tips for those who wish to begin the process of writing their story, their life legacy.

With nearly 46 million adults over the age of 65, what began in 1963 as a month to celebrate the "Older American", has become a celebration of the Retiree Rebel spirit. Mary Helen chats about three ways seniors can engage in their own plan to celebrate this year's theme, Aging Out Loud. Mary Helen encourages each of us to Be Seen, to Be Heard and to Show Up in our lives, especially in our bonus years. Hope you'll join the hashtag #AgingOutLoud and share your ideas.  

Retirement is meshing our outside life choices with our inside emotions. Poets communicate that process so much better than we can. Carol and Mary Helen in this episode of Kitchen Table Talks celebrate National Poetry Month and pick some of their favorite poems to share. Celebrating ourselves, becoming existential, realizing retirement is a journey, and giggling at Grooks helps to discover the wide variety of poetry and what it can tell us about this new phase of our life.    

With a nod to comedian Joan Rivers, Retiree Rebels ask, Can We Talk?  Because talking about your retirement is important. Talking can even save lives. In this Kitchen Table Talk, Mary Helen and Carol talk about talking, and how hard it is for retirees to speak the truth about their lives, especially if they don’t fit the stereotype of the blissful carefree retiree.

Spring suggests growth and being able to SEE and HEAR around you are keys to creating your bonus years' spurts. Mary Helen talks about how honing your senses, dealing with new people, and as we age being seen for the fabulous people we are. How will your garden grow this spring?  

Exploring The Struggles - And Successes - Of Retirement Joy Cardin, host of the Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network program, The Joy Cardin Show interviewed the Retiree Rebels co-founders April 10, 2017.   Carol Larson and Mary Helen Conroy discussed the issues surrounding retirement for this amazing group of new baby boomers. Joy lead the discussion on how retirement is the beginning of a new phase of life full of struggles and successes. A thank you to Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2017, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

  Ever thought about writing your memoirs? Or do have a rip-snorting thriller in you? But do you think -or have been told- you’re too old to start on such a big creative project?    Hogwash!   Three Madison authors presented their best arguments for writing at any age. Well-known author Jerry Apps, mystery author Peggy Williams, and new memoir author RJ McKnight offered a gathering at the Fitchburg Senior Center their opinions ranging from the importance of telling your stories, confronting ageism, feeding the creative impulse and silencing your inner critique. 

'Garbage in, Garbage out’ is the saying about how computers operate, but it’s also true of your brain.  If you believe it when people say you’re old and done, you will be.  In this edition of Ask Mary Helen, she talks about changing the “input" to your brain, and how it's the first step to changing your attitude about aging, and what you personally can do with your bonus years.