The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is Habits that lead to happiness in retirement. 

So far this week, I’ve been talking about the health habits that will lead to happiness in retirement. This advice is based on a long-term Harvard study that’s still ongoing which has been following a wide variety of Americans starting in their 20s throughout their whole lives. What the study has found is that happiness increases from about age 50 to 65, but then something interesting happens at age 65. People diverge into 2 categories:

Sad-sick, and happy-well. The sad-sick cohort are below average in physical health, mental health and life satisfaction. They tend to get unhappier as they age. The happy-well cohort on the other hand enjoy good physical health, mental health, and high life satisfaction that doesn’t diminish with age. 

The sad-sick are more likely to smoke, have issues with drinking, are overweight or obese, and don’t get much daily movement or exercise. 

These are all important health habits to cultivate throughout life, but what about the non-health related predictors. That’s what we turn to today, starting with learning to cope. 

Life is stressful, and some of us have found ways to deal with the person who cut you off in traffic, or that coworker who always manages to put you down. If you find yourself still angry at the random person in traffic after several minutes, or continuing to stew about your rude co-worker, it can lead to bitterness and resentment for more than just the people who hurt you. 

At the Catholic parish I attend, it’s a great place to see this firsthand. There are an unusually large number of people in their golden years, compared to the general population, and its easy to spot the joyful, warm, inviting people, as well as the wounded people who have allowed their hurts, turn into resentment and bitterness. I can tell within 30 seconds of talking to someone whether or not bitterness and resentment have closed them off to the world, and it’s very sad to me how so many people have allowed the inevitable pain and tragedy of life have cast such a dark shadow over their lives. 

The solution to this is not easy, because it requires often years-long cultivation of patience, kindness, gratitude, and a conscious effort to have an open heart by loving and seeing the best in others. Those I know with an open heart allow love to flow through them and aren’t handcuffed by pain and resentment. Easier said than done, I know!

Some of us may even require therapy, but if you find yourself angry, resentful, and bitter, then a great place to start is with a book I read last summer called “Be Healed”, by Dr. Bob Schuchts. It’s written for a Christian audience, so take that into consideration on whether or not this book might be for you, but the book is powerful and practical for healing the deep and inevitable wounds in our lives that, unchecked, can lead to misery and resentment. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast. 

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