Sunday, July 2, 2017

RETIREMENT? NO, REFIREMENT! "Contagion," "Stress"




Communicating Illness

We can’t state this clearly enough; you can’t keep problems to yourself any more.

Even when we keep our suffering a firm secret, we tend to resent others for failing to read our minds. This is no time for that. This is a time for facts on the table. 

This might not seem, at first, to be an area that requires strategic thinking - but if this area of your life is mismanaged it can be exhausting, and failing to articulate difficulties will inevitably lead to complications - Innocent requests for help moving sofas!

One solution is to think of a stock explanation, that is easy to repeat, that hits on the vital points of your condition - your cans and cant’s - but cutting past the morbid, particularly worrying details that may bring a tear to people’s eyes or a lump to your own throat.

It can be rounded with positives - include how you’ve already begun dealing with the issue. (Also this might help shut-down well-meaning conversations about what people think you should be doing for your health, which could become tedious.)   

For example:
‘I’ve been having some minor health problems so my doctor advised me to take things easy - He’s given me some exercises to get on with, but basically told me not to do anything too strenuous. It’s given me a chance to get some reading done, so it’s not all bad.’   

Of course, some words there are already emotive to say aloud, no matter how much detail you strip from them. ‘Health problems’. And of course, people will worry. But it is a conversation that needs having.

If you’re having difficulty in bringing yourself to having the talk, the solution is simple - imagine it were the other way around.

How would you feel if those you loved kept a secret from you that could result in you neglecting them?

Stress

Retirement has been shown to result in a decrease in stress-induced headaches - And during the transition phase headache prevalence can drop 46%. [11]

Remember: stress can seep into empty areas of your life. Of course, at first you deserve a break - a time with nothing at all on your schedule, if the idea suits you, but that can’t become the new norm.

To keep stress at bay you have to:
Stay Engaged
Stay Active
Stay Connected


                                                                          ###

This is the continuation of a weekly serialization of this new ebook on active retirement, by Wamala and Cooper, which book is available through amazon.com for $0.99: 


No comments:

Post a Comment