All our lives we work… We work to provide for our families, we work to put food on the table, and we work to overall live a better life and secure a comfortable financial future. But working isn’t meant to last forever, plus, who wants to work their entire life? That’s what retirement is for! Once you reach the age of retirement and actually retire from your job, that’s when you can start living the “good life,” right?

Well… Yes and no. It depends on what plans you have in place to protect your retirement.

Retirement is the very thing we’ve worked our entire lives for. But for many people around the world, retirement just brings a new set of life stressors in addition to the ones they’re already experiencing.

But how can this be? If retirement is the thing we’ve worked our entire lives for, why is retirement so stressful?

Well, retirement stress can be caused by numerous things, actually. With retirement comes age. There comes changes in health conditions, changes in income, death of loved ones, changes in social activities, and even changes in your sexual capabilities… All of those things contribute to the stressors associated with retiring and reaching retirement age.

But reaching retirement is no reason to panic because it’s simply a part of life. The key to embracing retirement is learning how to combat stress that’s associated with retirement. And it’s simply a matter of coming to the realization that things have changed and learning to embrace those changes, then finally making the necessary adjustments to your life so you can adapt and move forward in this new chapter in your life.

Helpful Tips to Alleviate the Life Stressors That Come With Retirement

Life Stressor: Change in Income

When you retire, you’re no longer going to be making money by the hour or salary, or get paid for working overtime. Your income is your retirement, and depending on how much you’ve put into your retirement while working, it can cause worry about how you’re going to live off of it.

What to Do: Consider downsizing and selling your home. If you already live in a small home, make changes to your monthly expenses. Maybe it’s time to switch to Choose Solar to reduce your monthly energy costs. Maybe it’s time to sell one of the cars. And maybe it’s time to rent one of your bedrooms. Having such a change in your income can bring about stress but it’s not an impossible feat. Just breathe and do a once over of your situation to find ways to make your retirement a smooth transition.

Life Stressor: Loss of a Social Environment

When you retire, you’re losing that regular social interaction you encountered on a daily basis. Even the people who stressed you out and got on your nerves, you may still miss seeing them on a daily basis when you retire. But the thing you have to realize is that just because you retire, that doesn’t mean that your social life is over. In fact, when you retire, you can have an even bigger social life because you don’t have work obligations stopping you from anything.

What to Do: Keep in touch with your old coworkers, stop by and visit with refreshments every now and again. Retirement is also the perfect time to join social clubs that interest you. A lot of times, these clubs go on trips and they’re with people of the same age so you’ll meet people that you have lots in common with. Retirement by no means the end of your social life…it’s only the beginning.

Life Stressor: Change in Health/Physical Capabilities

Your health is your wealth, and without it, you have nothing. As you age, there will be parts of your health that just don’t work or move the same or as well as they used to, and that’s fine, but what are you doing about it to reduce it or eliminate it?

What to Do: Exercise more and start eating healthier. You truly are what you eat, and if you continually eat junk without getting more physical movement, your health will decline. But if you take preventive measures now, your retirement will be most enjoyable with no limitations on what you can do.