Settling down for retirement after many years of work can feel like a sigh of relief, a moment to catch your breath and slow down. However, this shift in lifestyle can also bring up feelings of sadness, anxiety, and loss of purpose. Studies show that a third of retirees develop symptoms of depression, especially those who have lost a spouse, live alone, retired unexpectedly, or are simply struggling to adjust. Such a drastic change can be challenging, so it’s important to acknowledge how you feel. In addition to finding empathy for yourself, the following tips can help prevent these feelings or cope with them if they arise.

1. Take it Slow

Rather than diving right into the retirement deep end, you can find ways to offload your work commitments incrementally, using the extra time to relax, pick up new hobbies, and get a taste of what retirement is like and how you’d ultimately like to spend it. You could go from full-time to part-time employment, and gradually work fewer hours with time. If you are unable to take a gradual approach, try to take some time to map out what you’d like to do once you retire, almost like an extended vacation plan. This can help you build excitement for retirement and can get you ready for the retirement lifestyle when it comes.

2. Engage in Your Community

One of the reasons you may be putting off retirement is because filling the purpose and social life that working provides can be depressing. Although the time to yourself is beneficial, if you’re worried about what will replace the fulfillment you get from work, you might find great purpose in engaging in different communities such as local community sports, arts, and other activities, or volunteering, reading to children, or simply finding a partner to go on walks with. Interacting with others and actively making new connections and friends with other retirees, whether they are your peers or not, can get you out of the house and active, building your networks and filling you with a sense of purpose.

3. Explore Your Inner Child

There’s a saying that goes, “as we grow older, we are a sum of all the years that came before.” When you reach your 60’s you’ve gained invaluable experience, knowledge, and memories, but don’t forget that you’re allowed to feel like the same person that once experienced those memories for the first time! In your retirement years, can you think of activities you wanted to do in your early years that you haven’t gotten around to? Maybe it’s trying out a specific cuisine or taking a trip somewhere. Whatever it is, now is the perfect time to reignite that old flame and pursue as many of those dreams as you can. Exploring your inner child is a great way to rediscover parts of yourself and create new memories.

If feelings of sadness or anxiety persist, it would be wise to reach out to a professional and talk to through these emotions with them.

Retirement can be an eye-opening phase of life, seeing new sides to yourself or your life. This time in your life has many adventures and learning experiences to offer. But what’s also important is that you can make the most of your savings to afford this great time of enjoyment and exploration. To find out how you can better deal with your finances in retirement, Click here to talk to us for a complimentary review of your retirement finances.