Staying in touch with colleagues and friends who are retired, keeps me grounded and is steady source of support. The key is to initiate contact and not to wait for others to appear out of the fog.
Initiate Contact
Retired friends often get together without their working friends. They travel together, some volunteer together and they take classes or join clubs. As each new friend retired, my working friends and I would only be able to reconnect with them during school holidays. (There isn’t much free time left for those who work full-time and have family responsibilities.) Now that my availability has changed, it’s my role to reach out to my retired friends. There’s no reason why they would suddenly remember that I’m around, unless I initiate contact. Contact can mean anything from a text, an email, a direct message on Instagram or meeting for a walk.
Valuable Role Models
Having more consistent contact with my retired friends now that I’m also retired is wonderful. I discover new books, movies, places, activities and ideas from them. Surprisingly, we don’t need to even mention education: our all-encompassing topic when we worked together. They show me that there really is a big world of interesting things to explore and I’m grateful for that. They are supportive of my tiny steps into new arenas. They have wisdom about how to deal with the unstructured week and where to get the best travel deals. They have advice for those wobbly feelings that I’ve had (It’s normal and it will pass). Contact your pensioned pals. You won’t regret it.
New Friends At Any Age
I also try to remember that you’re never too old to make new friends. Years ago I was surprised at the funeral for our dear Great Aunt, who lived to 101. I thought all her friends would be elderly or long-passed away. But some of her friends were in their twenties! She had a skill for making new friends. People of all ages valued her friendship. She was an expert retiree.
Retired, and now what? 