Retired, Not Retiring: Staying Well in Your 60s and 70s

Nobody Warns You How Busy It Is

I expected retirement to be quiet. My diary is fuller than it was when I was working, and I would not have it any other way - but staying well takes a bit more deliberate effort than it used to.

Movement, Not Exercise

I do not go to a gym and I never will. What I do is walk into town most days, take the stairs at the library, and stand up during the adverts. Walking to things instead of driving to them is the single best decision I have made for my knees and my head.

People on Purpose

Friendships do not maintain themselves once work stops handing you company. Choir on a Wednesday, coffee with the same three women on a Friday, a phone call to whoever I have not spoken to in a fortnight. It is scheduled, and that is not sad - it is sensible.

Something to Be Useful For

Sewing gave me that. So does volunteering, the garden, and being the one the family calls when something needs mending. Purpose does not have to be grand; it just has to be yours.

The Practical Bits

• Book the appointments. Eyes, ears, teeth, blood pressure, bone density. Ears especially - hearing loss creeps up and quietly shrinks your world.
• Eat protein at breakfast. Muscle goes faster after sixty and it is much easier to keep than to rebuild.
• Strength twice a week. A tin of beans in each hand counts. It is about staying able to carry the shopping.
• Sleep badly? Say so. It is worth mentioning to a GP rather than accepting as your lot.

And the Bit Nobody Lists

Keep making plans. Not five-year plans - just something in the diary for next Thursday. Having somewhere to be is, I am fairly sure, the thing that keeps people well far more than any supplement.

Retired, yes. Retiring, absolutely not.