Blog
Sara's musings about how to age happier
Second Thoughts about A Financial House
As I thought more about getting a financial house in order as preparation for working less or not at all, I thought that what I had already written on this topic was pretty elitist. My suggestions were fine for those who have invested assets, or for those fortunate...
Pre-retirement (Life change) Planning: Getting your Financial House in Order
Confession: although I haven't had a regular job for five years, I don't balance my checkbook or keep a budget. I do know within about $100 what my checking account balance, my monthly income and expenses are--and so should you. You should know this before you stop...
5 Things You Need to Do to Prepare for Retirement (or what comes after who you were before)
Most of us over 65 have had some kind of full-time job for most of our adult lives. Moving from full-time work to something else--part-time work in the same field (phased retirement), part-time work in some other field, finding a hobby or volunteer work that engages...
Bits of Skin
I had an appointment Monday morning with a new dermatologist. I'd had a pesky cold sore near my mouth for months that wouldn't heal. Not healing is getting to be a semi-permanent condition for me as almost any cut to my skin results in an infection. These...
Optimism in Older Age
One of my dearest friends, a dynamic and beautiful woman, died recently. This friend was confined to her bed or wheelchair due to a spinal injury. She was in constant pain. In our last face-to-face conversation she asked me to think with her about what optimism...
Optimism in Older Age
One of my dearest friends, a dynamic and beautiful woman, died recently. This friend was confined to her bed or wheelchair due to a spinal injury. She was in constant pain. In our last face-to-face conversation she asked me to think with her about what optimism...
Letting Go
Paul Simon, one of the great songwriters and singers of my generation, is letting go. In an article in the New York Times yesterday he said “It’s an act of courage to let go. I am going to see what happens if I let go. Then I’m going to see, who am I? Or am I just...
Close a door, open a door
This has been a month of dramatic events and effects of personal, internal changes. I have used up whatever energy an active 72 year-old can use almost every day. Just a few external changes include my first ever involvement in a law suit (I had really hoped to get...
Resilience and older age
From a very recent electronic article in The New Yorker about resilience http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-secret-formula-for-resilience, there is this caution, "Frame adversity as a challenge, and you become more flexible and able to deal with it,...
Time
My day, week, month ideally contains just enough challenge, leisure, relationship, to "feel" full. Not so much that, at its end, I am spent, hungry, used up-- longing for someone else to cook my dinner while I stare into the fire martini in hand. It's tricky, this...