What to Do? When You Don’t Know What to Do in

By Nancy Collamer, M.S What to Do?

My husband just went through this, and here are steps that turned things around

Last year, my husband Joel, then 65, retired from a 30+ year career as an IT consultant. Initially, he reveled in his newfound freedom. But over time, the leisurely life lost its luster and Joel seemed a little lost himself.

Now as a retirement coach, I wasn't alarmed by Joel's growing restlessness. Retirement can be surprisingly challenging and it often takes two years or more before people settle in. Still, as his wife, it was eye-opening to experience the ups and downs of this transition firsthand.

Over the course of the year, Joel thankfully ultimately found his footing. I'd like to tell you how that happened and what you might do if you're about to retire or have retired so you can figure out what to do in retirement for maximum fulfillment.

In Joel's case, he found a wonderful mix. Joel wound up enrolling in a program to become a master naturalist, volunteered to teach a course on artisanal cheese (a longtime passion of his), took courses online and began to play tennis again. "It's a work in progress. On one hand, I'm pleased that I've got a good portfolio of activities in place. But I know the specifics will change over time."

"It's a work in progress," says Joel. "On one hand, I'm pleased that I've got a good portfolio of activities in place. But I know the specifics will change over time."

Before I share the exact formula Joel used to craft his next act, let me first say that there is no surefire recipe for retirement joy.

A satisfying retirement is crafted with small steps and a sprinkling of serendipity that leads you in a new direction. Maybe you have a conversation with a friend that results in an introduction to a new course that prompts you to get involved in an exciting volunteer opportunity or parttime gig.

It's almost always an unpredictable journey. Fortunately, even if you don't know exactly where you're headed, there are things you can do to build forward momentum. Here are five key steps that Joel took to get unstuck, along with a few suggested resources:

1. Invest in self-reflection. Once you gain clarity about what's most important in your life, your decisions about how to spend your time get easier.

What Joel found most useful was to reflect on, and discuss, questions that helped him clarify his driving motivators and interests. Four he found especially useful:

What do you want to learn about? You now have an opportunity to learn about new topics you didn't have time for while working full-time. Once you identify your interest areas, you'll find endless books, webinars, lectures, podcasts and classes to fill your days. For Joel, who was a biology major in college, the opportunity to study the natural sciences again was at the top of his list.

When do you feel most useful and valued? Think about the times you've felt most appreciated at work and in your

personal life: Who were you serving? How specifically did you add value? Time spent on this question can lead you to interesting volunteer or part-time work possibilities.

What have you been waiting to do? Many people have a bucket list of things they hope to do in retirement, like travel, play golf, spend more time with their adult kids (and maybe grandkids) and relocate. But beyond the obvious, think about the day-to-day priorities, wellness goals and legacy activities you wish to pursue.

In Joel's case, taking long daily walks was a priority, an indulgence he rarely had time for before retirement, when he was a traveling consultant.

Do you want to work or volunteer in semi-retirement? And if so, in what capacity? The options for part-time retirement work have never been more varied.

But don't jump at the first "opportunity" offered, just to fill up the calendar. Last winter, at the height of his boredom, Joel considered applying to be our housing community's clubhouse manager — a thankless volunteer gig advertised in our local newsletter. Fortunately, after realizing that the job would be more pain than pleasure — and, okay, a bit of pushback from me — he opted to put his effort towards finding a better fit.

A caution: While it's important to ask yourself what kind of work or volunteering you want to do, it's equally critical not to get stuck in analysis paralysis. The key to building momentum is by taking action.

Thanks to the pandemic, three's been an explosion in free and low-cost online learning opportunities for retirees, both in-person and virtual.

Attending in-person classes is ideal for socialization, but virtual classes might be best until the virus subsides. Classes offered through retiree-centric programs like OLLI and GetSetup.io offer numerous benefits: intellectual stimulation, skill building and opportunities to meet likeminded retirees. And you never know where things might lead.

In Joel's case, after attending virtual classes through the Delaware Valley University Center for Learning in Retirement, he decided to teach a sixsession class about artisanal cheese. Although he had never taught before, Joel found the experience quite rewarding and looks forward to offering the class again (student feedback was very gouda!).

Joel and I relocated to Pennsylvania from Connecticut in 2020, so my husband was unfamiliar with the local volunteer landscape when he retired.

To locate volunteer roles connected to his interest in the natural sciences, Joel searched on Volunteermatch. org, a national databank of volunteer opportunities that can be filtered by location and interest area. When that didn't return any matches, he went directly to the websites of several local nonprofits.

Here again, serendipity stepped in.

It was on the volunteer page of our local wildflower preserve that Joel first learned about becoming a Pennsylvania master naturalist, a designation that combines studying about the local ecosystem with conservation work. Next year, as part of the certification process, he'll volunteer at the preserve, as well as at several other locations.

4. Buddy up with a friend. As my favorite career guru Barbara Sher famously warned, "Isolation is a dream killer." So, to boost your mood and momentum, look for ways to team-up with a friend or perhaps a former colleague to do new things in retirement.

You might be surprised how much other retirees will appreciate your outreach. After hearing about the naturalist program from Joel, his friend Martin also enrolled, which made the experience more enjoyable for both men.

If you can't find someone with similar interests, search sites like Meetup.com to expand your options.

5. Go slowly. Finally, I offer this last tip in honor of my wonderful editor, Rich Eisenberg, who is retiring from his job as Next Avenue's managing editor and editor of its Work & Purpose and Money & Policy channels on Jan. 5, 2022, to pursue a portfolio of "unretirement" activities: While an empty calendar and the loss of a steady paycheck can feel unnerving and unnatural, resist taking on too much, too quickly.

William Bridges, the noted authority on transitions, says that all transitions are composed of an ending, a neutral zone and a new beginning. It's in the neutral zone — the "fertile void" — that realignment takes hold and creates the foundation for a meaningful next act. Just ask Joel.

Nancy Collamer, M.S., is a semi-retirement coach, speaker and author of Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit From Your Passions During Semi-Retirement. You can now download her free workbook called 25 Ways to Help You Identify Your Ideal Second Act on her website at MyLifestyleCareer.com (and you'll also receive her free bi-monthly newsletter).

Source: www.nextavenue.org

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It's that time of year again when we start thinking about resolutions. But you don't have to make a lot of big changes in your daily habits to move toward a healthier lifestyle. Even small changes can help to nudge you forward.

For inspiration, check out these seven small ideas. They're based on information from the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Heart Association and other national medical groups. Just choose one habit to change at a time and build from there. 1. Carry a water bottle. Zero-calorie water is a healthy choice, especially if you're trying to maintain a healthy weight. You're likely to drink more water when you have a bottle handy. Tip: Fill your bottle halfway and freeze it overnight so that it's cold and refreshing the next day.

workouts. For many people, a good long-term exercise goal should include at least 150 minutes of moderate, aerobic activity (like a brisk walk) per week. But you can gradually work up to that amount by adding just 5 to 10 minutes a day to your usual activity routine.

a week. Once this becomes a habit, you might decide to pack a lunch all week. And then you may be less likely to stop by the drive-thru (or the vending machine, if that's a challenge for you, which it is for many of us).

second serving. That's how long it often takes for your stomach to tell your brain you're full.

bedtime. Having trouble winding down in time to get the seven to nine hours of nightly shut-eye that most adults need? Try to avoid using your smartphone in the hour before bedtime. Devices can overstimulate Artist: Jamele Wright Sr us at a time when we should be settling in for a relaxing bedtime routine.

Fruits and veggies are low in fat and rich in goodfor-you fiber, vitamins and minerals. Eating a colorful variety is a great way to get as many of these different nutrients as possible. Plus, variety is the spice of life, as they say. It certainly makes eating well interesting!

Is it challenging to fit physical activity into your busy day? Try taking short walks of 10 to 15 minutes during your lunchtime or other breaks. Short bouts of activity count toward your weekly total. What's more, exercising with someone can be fun. When exercise is fun, you're more likely to keep doing it—and reaping the ongoing health rewards.

Consider getting your doctor's OK It can be a good idea to talk to your doctor about your plans to change your health habits. Your doctor can help you choose goals that are right for you and help you get started safely. That's especially important if, for instance, you want to start or increase an exercise routine and you have a health issue or you haven't been active in a while.

Source: Jackson Hospital Health Library

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Saturday, January 7, 2023 8:00 pm Tickets: $35. Remember putting on an album and listening from start to finish? Relive that moment with a live concert experience unlike any other as The Black Jacket Symphony recreates a select classic album live in its entirety—note for note, sound for sound—plus a full set of greatest hits from the evening’s artist. Over the past thirteen years, the Black Jacket Symphony has performed over 40 classic rock albums, bringing an incredible night of entertainment to over a million music lovers across the US. The group of hand-picked musicians changes based upon the album being performed—and no sonic detail is overlooked, with the musicians doing whatever it takes to reproduce the album. It’s a full night of rock and roll magic—plus a visual experience unlike any other. Fans across the country flock to their shows—and once you see one, you won’t miss another! For tickets vivit www.mpaconline.org

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These showings of films by Exhibition on Screen are presented at the Capri Theatre and accompanied by introductions from MMFA staff, offering audiences fully enriched arts experiences.

The Montgomery Museum of Fine Art continues our partnership with the Capri Theatre to present the Exhibition on Screen series. The second film in the series, and one of its most successful films, is dedicated to the life and work of Paul Cézanne. The film will be introduced by Jennifer Jankauskas, Curator.

One cannot appreciate 20th-century art without understanding the significance and genius of Paul Cézanne. Filmed at the National Portrait Gallery in London, with additional interviews from experts and curators from MoMA in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and correspondence from the artist himself, the film takes audiences to the places Cézanne lived and worked and sheds light on an artist who is perhaps one of the least known and yet most important of all the Impressionists. For more www.mmfa.org

Earn extra cash by peddling your experience, your opinion, your skills and your craft — or by volunteering to be a guinea pig

If inflation and the gyrating stock market has you fretting over your financial security in retirement, you're not alone. Fully 71% of boomers recently surveyed by Bankrate said they are behind on retirement savings.

One way to boost your income after retirement is to work a side gig — a flexible job that can be worked on a part-time, occasional or seasonal basis. In addition to the financial benefits, side gigs can add enjoyment, interest and purpose to your retirement years.

To help you learn about good side gigs for retirees in 2023, I turned to two experts: Toni Frana, career services manager at FlexJobs, and Kathy Kristof, founder of SideHusl.com.

Here are their 6 recommendations:

Consulting has long been a popular second-act career for retirees. But Kristof says a tenuous economy and new technology have made consulting opportunities stronger than ever. "Right now, many companies are reluctant to hire full-time employees," notes Kristof. "So, they're relying more on consultants."

To find consulting opportunities, you can strike out on your own or you can search on one of the many online consulting platforms, like Maven or Zintro. Assignments range from one-off hourly consults to months-long commitments. Pay varies widely, depending on your expertise and industry, but most professionals command at least $50 an hour, with some earning north of $500 an hour. Notably, many highly paid positions no longer require a college degree. According to data collected by SideHusl. com, the best college-optional jobs are in tech, logistics, construction, marketing, landscape and design, but other industries are open to non-college graduates as well. "Your reviews and experience will matter far more than your education," Kristof says.

Demand for tutors exploded during the pandemic and hasn't cooled off since. "The difference is now there's demand for both virtual and in-person tutors," says Kristof. Tutors are needed for both children and adults, in everything from reading to coding; Spanish to SAT prep.

You don't need teaching credentials to land work (although it helps), so long as you're well-versed in the subject matter. To find clients, you can tap your network for leads, affiliate with a local tutoring service or register with one of the many online tutoring platforms.

Starting rates for online tutors are in the $15 to $20 an hour range, but as Kristof details in this blog post, 3 Best Tutoring Sites, it's possible to earn considerably more: SAT tutors in affluent suburbs can earn $200 an hour or more.

In addition to tutoring, Frana says that FlexJobs has demand for instructional designers, people who develop training materials, programs and curricula for organizations and businesses. Successful instructional designers typically have some background in adult learning combined with strong technical skills and familiarity with e-learning platforms.

Writer. The growth in corporate blogs and websites has created a growing market for freelancers with strong writing and editing skills. As an example, Penguin Freelancers, which is operated by one of the world's largest publishing houses, has listings for freelance copy editors and proofreaders at over $30 per hour. FlexJobs currently has hundreds of postings for a variety of flexible writing gigs, including technical writers, content developers and grant writers. If you'd like to learn more about online writing gigs, consult this SideHusl.com post, Where to Find Writing or Editing Jobs.

4. Online Art Vendor. Traditionally, most artists and artisans have depended on local fairs and galleries to sell their work. But increasingly, they are taking advantage of technology to boost their sales and expand their reach.

"The number of online platforms where you can make money selling your art and crafts has exploded," says Kristof. A few examples: on Society6 or RedBubble, you can have your artwork printed on items like notebooks, mugs and T-shirts.

They process the orders, and you earn a commission or royalty for every item sold. If you're a fine artist, you can signup with Turning Art, a site that works with corporate clients that want to buy or rent artwork for their office buildings.

Or if you're more into craft items, you Free Digital Subscriptions at www.RiverRegionBoom.com

might set-up shop on a site like Etsy. Whichever platform you use, be sure to carefully review their terms and conditions so that you're clear on how you'll be paid — and how much the site takes for handling your listing, transactions and payment processing.

5. Mock Juror. If you're a devotee of legal dramas, you might enjoy a quick stint as a mock juror. Lawyers pay mock jurors to review their case summaries, so they can get a better feel for the potential pitfalls in their legal arguments. You won't earn a lot (one firm, Online Verdict, pays mock jurors $20 to $60 an hour and another, Jury Test, pays $5 to $50 per trial) but it could be an intriguing way to earn a few dollars.

6. Clinical Trial Participant. Kristof suggested a side gig that comes with both risk and reward: clinical trials of drugs and cosmetics. You can peruse scheduled tests on sites such as Labcorp Drug Development (formerly called Covance) or Princeton Consumer Research, and if you find something that fits your health, risk-tolerance or age, you can then decide if you want to sign up.

"They are always looking for people who have existing conditions, like eczema or diabetes," notes Kristof, "but there are plenty of other studies as well." Compensation varies wildly: short-term low-risk studies average $25 to $100 an hour, while studies involving invasive procedures and overnight stays can pay thousands of dollars.

Clearly this option isn't for everyone but if you'd like to learn more, read Clinical Trials: Highly Paid but Risky.

Nancy Collamer, M.S., is a semi-retirement coach, speaker and author of Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit From Your Passions During Semi-Retirement. You can now download her free workbook called 25 Ways to Help You Identify Your Ideal Second Act on her website at MyLifestyleCareer.com (and you'll also receive her free bi-monthly newsletter).

Source: www.NextAvenue.org

Retiring in Montgomery, AL, and purchasing our first house in 15 years presented a number of interesting adventures. Perhaps the most amusing adventure was my attempt to stabilize the soil at the point where the neighborhood water drain exited through the end of our back yard, under the fence, and into the large cement drain. Rain was an unwelcome event since it heralded the development of deep mud and standing water at the back fence from our sloped yard and our neighbor's water flow. The water level would often climb a foot to a foot and a half up the fence as it flowed to the far end of the fence and finally into the cement drain.

With the substantial slope of our yard towards the back fence and the frequent flooding, grass, shrubs, and flowers would not grow. Perhaps cat tails and other swamp shrubs would have done well. I'd take anything that would interrupt the constant washing of the soil towards the edge of our yard where it was washed under the fence and into the drain, leaving a barren, muddy section of yard.

Being a full-time working mom and Air Force apartment dweller my entire marriage, I had little experience or knowledge of gardening. In fact, the only experience with gardening that I had was from my uncle's farm in Vermont, experiences well dated. But, I am a problem solver. I could Google with the best, and like coming up with solutions, trying them out, and improving on them. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

So, I figured I had two basic issues: rain with water accumulation and depletion of soil with water runoff.

Now off to problem solving. I knew I wasn't going to change the rainfall in Montgomery. I also couldn't change the landscaping slope so that the yard was wonderful vines were intent on providing me a little drama and a lot of humor. Miss Trixie Doodle and her fairly new sister, Dixie Mae, had discovered a treasure. Our clever little Montgomery Humane Society adoptees enthusiastically brought me my first orange orb. Now, you have to understand, it was fairly chewed, so I was a little uncertain about what this lovely gift was. I tossed it neatly away and didn't give it another thought. But not so fast. The next day, I was presented with two more. This went on for about 2 weeks as my suspicions grew, and those pups were exuberantly spending time among the vines. Yes. I'm a little slow when it comes to agriculture, but it finally dawned on me. Sweet potato vines ...Sweet potatoes! My clever plan to stabilize my soil resulted in a hardy growth of young sweet potatoes and muddy paws.

In order to save myself many more hours of washing paws, I harvested my first batch of home-grown sweet potatoes. And once again, the soil that I had so carefully stabilized was now a muddy pond leaking under the fence on its way to the cement drain. And our clever pups had discovered the beauty of mud baths and well-rewarded digging. Yankee ingenuity? Foiled by the pups and the potatoes!

Epilogue: The French drain has been installed along with garden fabric wrapped around fencing and installed at the fence with rocks and pebbles reinforcing the area. The author has attended 2 gardening series with OLLI at Auburn University Montgomery and is currently enrolled in the Master Gardening Class, and our pups, curiously, are on sweet potato dog food.

level because we were the water escape for our neighborhood.

We considered a French drain to tackle the water accumulation but hadn't yet made a commitment to the expense. Could I find plants thirsty enough to gobble up the water and have sufficient root power to stabilize my soil, too? I liked wandering through the aisles of Home Depot, (but now I know I was really wandering through the aisles of a big box store.) So, during the course of wandering, I happened upon shelves of plants in little black plastic trays. Hmmmm. I wondered. Could I stabilize the soil by planting a whole tray of thirsty little plants? And there they were, sweet potatoes. They were charming plants with pretty leaves, and I knew they had good roots and would spread as vines. Perfect. In the next moment I was there at the register with my precious cargo, on the way to valiantly rescuing my yard! By afternoon, they were all planted, scattered all around the area where the water flowed under the fence and out to the cement drain.

Fast forward! The plan worked. There I was patting myself on the back. The plants settled in and began their avid growth spurts. Within weeks I had a robust area of sweet potato plants and vines holding my soil in place. How's that for Yankee ingenuity?

You, who are much more plant savvy, may have gotten ahead of me at this point. You probably have already figured out what happened next, but I had no idea those

Ruth Padgett, a Master Gardener in the Capital City Master Gardener Association since 2016, lives in Montgomery. For more information on becoming a master gardener, visit our web site, www. capcitymqa.org or email capcitymga@gmail.com.

Registration for 2023 Winter Term is open. Register by January 30, 2023 at www.aum.edu/olli. The AU OLLI Shares schedule and all course descriptions, bonus opportunities, and field trips are available in the online catalog at www.aum.edu/olli.