Retiree Rebels: Ditch The Rocking Chair!

Boomers are on the other end of the generation gap now, often scratching their collective heads about the behaviors of young people. Writer and speaker, Sarah Gibson travels the world helping employers and elders work with the Gen-Xers and Millennials. In this Kitchen Table Talk, she sat down with Mary Helen and Carol to explain how Retiree Rebels can help bridge the widening gap between the generations, whether at work or across the dinner table.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? It’s time to ask that question again. What are your goals for the next 10, 20 or 30 years? Without a goal, how will you know what steps to take in the future? In this edition of Kitchen Table Talks, Mary Helen and Carol talk about how dreaming new dreams now is both different and the same as when you were young, but still absolutely necessary.

What about your work did you enjoy the most? Knowing exactly what gave you an adrenaline charge may help you manage those first rocky months of retirement. In this edition of Ask Mary Helen, she introduces us to four personality types and what about those different working styles could help you decide what to do with yourself after the retirement party is over.  

Bored to Death? You spent all this time and effort getting to retirement, just to take it easy for a change. Suddenly you realize you're bored. How'd that happen? Maybe the old model of retirement doesn't suit you because it's BORING. Worse yet, that old model can make you sick, even kill you.  

Know someone who just retired? It might be time to check in and find out how they're coping. January may be a logical time to retire, but it can also be the worst time. For that reason, we combined 4 podcasts for newbies to inform them of the new realities of retirement, both the lows and the unexpected potential. So pass on this link if you know a new retiree, or if you could also use a lift during these dark winter days. Go Rebels!

Mary Helen has hit the big age milestone of 65! Time to wish her the best.. or is it?   Birthdays can be fraught with emotional overtones and societal expectations. In this Ask Mary Helen essay, our Retiree Rebel co-founder ruminates on the meaning of 65 ("No, I'm not dead yet") and how to turn societal expectations of her imminent demise on their head.

Even people who research and plan out their retirements --like our guest Barbara Boustead-- can be surprised by the reality of their new life. To deal with the unexpected demands made on her time and energy, Barbara devised The Power of Three, a rule for setting boundaries. She shares her new found philosophy with Mary Helen and Carol on this edition of Kitchen Table Talks.

Got Confidence? Maybe not. Any big life transition can undermine a person's confidence in themselves and in their path in life. Dolores Kokinos of The Empowerment Cafe has studied confidence, and divided that essential trait into five building blocks: Belonging, Acceptance, Respect, Purpose and Security. In this KTT, Dolores talks with Mary Helen and Carol about how retirees on a new unscripted path of life can regain their footing and move forward with confidence.

What the psychologist Carl Jung called “The Afternoon of Our Lives” (retirement) is finally being recognized by the American media as a new active stage of life. Wow! In this Kitchen Table Talk, Mary Helen and Carol review news reports from 2016 to discuss hopeful trends for retirees in 2017, ranging from the many people learning music to finding new housing options to discovering new meaning in life.

It’s that time of year, isn’t it? A time to remember, and so I do. But this year, my approach to the holidays is to remember not to act my age as a grown up, with all the rules of the holiday, but to act my shoe size and remember what the holiday is about. What will you remember with your shoe size holiday? Try this ‘game’ with the folks you’ll share your own holiday with and see what they would do if they remembered their shoe size.

Retired research scientist Hana Berger Moran expected to spend her next years living quietly at her home in California.  But [as she explained to Carol in this interview] the publication of an English author's book changed the direction of her life.   "Born Survivors" shared with the world the story of Hana's mother --and Hana's birth-- in a Nazi concentration camp.  The result placed Hana a new path in life that has taken her across the globe, and given her a new purpose; to remind the world of the important lessons of the Holocaust.

Can you be grateful for the bad things that happen in life? It often takes times and the perspective of years to see the good things that the bad thing actually conjured out of your life. In this Kitchen Table Talk, recorded for Thanksgiving, Mary Helen and Carol talk about "what a long strange trip it's been" to be grateful for the ups and downs of life. We're grateful for each of our listeners and wish you a holiday of amazing gratitude. Thank you!

One of the reasons retirees feel “invisible” in the world is because the commercial marketplace ignores us. Product ads and media programs reflect American values, and people of age are (generally) not valued. Which is illogical to the max!  In this essay Carol Larson talks about the enormous opportunity (and the profits) marketers miss by not appealing to boomers.

"Too old to hire, too young to retire." Many of the nearly and newly retired are finding this to be true. Michael Kennedy, a life coach studying later-in-life business entrepreneurs says that the best way to face a post career life is to be your own boss. Become an encore entrepreneur.   Interviewed via Skype and in front of an audience at the Fitchburg, Wisconsin Senior Center, Kennedy talked with Mary Helen and Carol about why older entrepreneurs are the most successful.​

Despite her own self-doubts, ten years ago Dyan Kopitzke said yes to taking an art class. Now she’s selling her work and traveling the world to paint. In this Kitchen Table Talk, Mary Helen and Carol talk with Dyan about how in retirement she lost her identity, but found herself on a journey to a new life, all by saying yes to the opportunities offered. 

What do you want to be when you grow up? What dreams do you still have for your life? When was the last time someone asked you what your dreams are? Mary Helen Conroy discusses the finding of dreams as important work for the nearly and newly retired.  Would you like to go to Dream Camp? Hear how that is possible. You just might find some dreams you never thought you had.

Ashton Applewhite considers herself an Old Person in Training. At age 64 the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism says the measure of our aging should not be how much we’re like our younger selves, but how much we’ve embraced the benefits of our years.   Interviewed via Skype, Applewhite talks with Mary Helen and Carol about how we can fight ageist stereotypes in society and within ourselves, both of which can sabotage our futures.    Thanks to The City of Fitchburg Community Media Services for technical support. 

On the one year anniversary of Retiree Rebels, Carol Larson takes a look back at life since her retirement. The biggest surprise was who she found hiding inside herself. One of the major benefits of aging --and of retirement-- is searching out the real person underneath a lifetime of different roles and obligations

We admit it, when we created Retiree Rebels one year ago we just followed our instincts as to the right direction to go. Which is what most new retirees have to do during this new unscripted stage of life.   For their first anniversary, Mary Helen Conroy and Carol Larson look back at what they’ve learned, and how these new understandings have raised their hopes for the future.   Special thanks to the Minions for serenading us on the first Anniversary of RetireeRebels.com

Gail Nordheim finds it as surprising as anyone that she is spending her retirement years working with the people of Vietnam. But in reviewing her life, her past work and what she wanted to continue doing, an international adventure emerged. In this Kitchen Table Talk, Mary Helen and Carol talk with Gail about her amazing work and her thoughts on finding your way to contribute to the world.