Loss of social network is a big concern among pre-retirees. When you will retire from your career, you more than likely won’t be seeing your colleagues and / or work friends everyday but that doesn’t mean that they are gone from your life forever. If you had good work and personal relationships with your co-workers, then these friendships may be strong enough to continue once you have left work.
Like all relationships, however, you need to make time and work on your friendships to stay connected.
If you don’t really have any close friends at work or outside of work, then you may need to nurture your existing relationships and even expand your network.
Some ways to do that are to:
Identify your interests and hobbies and join a local club e.g. if you love gardening, look for local gardening clubs
volunteer for a personal cause
join service clubs or associations – there are lots of service clubs who welcome new members, identify the service clubs in your area.
A club that I will be joining when I retire is PROBUS club. Their goal is to provide fellowship, friendship and fun in their retirement and semi-retirement years. Some of my retired friends are members and they are loving the people they are meeting and the experiences they are having. Visit www.probus.org for more information and for a club near you.
attend a class at your local college or
attend community or church events
There are probably lots of events going on in your community so pick up the local paper or read it on-line and get plugged in to find out what is happening in your community.
Fears can be debilitating as they can stop us from achieving our dreams and doing the things we want to do. So, don’t let your fears stop you from living the life you want.
Identify, understand and take action to overcome your fears. These are important steps in preparing yourself psychologically for your retirement.
Visit www.powerupyourretirement.com to watch the ‘Ten Most Common Fears About Retirement’ Masterclass video.
Marielle Gauthier, owner and principal of Redworks Communications, is a certified Results coach; an Associate Certified Coach (ACC); and a Conversational Intelligence Coach.
To receive updates about Marielle’s retirement coaching program, training and webinars or for more information on coaching services contact Marielle marielle@redworkscoaching.com or visit www.powerupyourretirement.com. She is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
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