Nationwide News

Creativity Vital
in Retirement
Record-Eagle, The (Traverse City, MI) - October 14, 2009

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- When Mary Eliowitz retired early from her teaching career, it was with anticipation rather than trepidation.

"I thought about the creative things I could do that I didn't have time for when I was working," said Eliowitz, 63, who eventually took a painting class and now is a well-known watercolorist in the Glen Arbor area.

Approximately 4 million people retire every year and enter the so-called Third Age -- the relatively long and healthy period after leaving the paid work force and before the onset of dependence and death. That makes planning for a creative retirement more important than ever before, experts say.

"Moving into the Third Age is not something a generation ago we gave much thought to," said Carol Evans, director of Northwestern Michigan College Extended Education and coordinator of the workshop Creative Retirement -- Exploring Your Third Age. "We didn't really expect to have 20 or 30 years, either in the financial sense or the how-much-longer will-we-have-to-play-golf sense."

Creative retirement doesn't necessarily mean learning an art form but infusing creativity and maximizing opportunities in the next stage of life to live longer and healthier.

"In the past there has been this sense of, when you retire you relax," said Evans, whose education background includes gerontology and adult continuing education. "We have seen there are way too many who don't retire and relax; they retire and die. Staying active and engaged and feeling like we're meaningfully engaged is pretty central to our overall health and sense of well-being."

When it comes to brain health, stimulating all the senses -- sight, hearing, taste, smell, kinesthetic senses, touch -- is key, said John Schneider, a medical clinical psychologist in private practice and one of the presenters at the NMC workshop. While physical fitness, stress and dietary factors can all play a part in memory loss, sensory deprivation and under-challenging or -stimulating the brain also can be to blame.

"So many of us get restricted to one kind of activity: if we do crossword puzzles, that will solve it all," he said. "Diversity is an important part of it."

The good news is that the brain's capacity for regeneration and resiliency is much greater than previously thought, Schneider said. And there are lots of ways to maintain health and brain function, from gardening, dancing and listening to new and exciting music, to practicing disciplines that integrate mind and body, like yoga and Tai Chi.

Other options for creative retirement include starting a dream business or going from a corporate job to a nonprofit job to give back, said Nancy Ballinger, also an NMC presenter and an executive coach and trainer with her own business.

"We used to think of it as, we grow up, we work, we retire -- we relax, play golf, whatever," Ballinger said. "Now it's almost like another career or development period as opposed to a sunset period. You may choose to golf, but the options are so much wider."

Whether it's to start a new career, volunteer in the community, learn a new skill or simply enjoy traveling and spending time with grandchildren, people can make the retirement transition smoother with a four-step process, Ballinger said.

"Think about what you're giving up, grieve the losses, create a picture of where you want to go, and define the small steps that will take you there and start working towards them," she said. "Once you allow yourself to grieve and acknowledge the things you've lost, pretty soon you start to say, 'OK, not there anymore. Where am I headed?' And that's when the creative juices start to flow."

Remember that a step is just a step, Ballinger added.

"We're so used to committing to the long term that we think, 'Oh, no, this is the rest of my life.' Au contraire, this is the period where you get to explore," she said.

Mary Eliowitz not only explored creative retirement through painting but through tae kwondo, kick boxing, gardening and cooking. She also blogs, is active in politics and is interested in creating habitat for birds. And when a pulled tendon kept her from her twice-weekly hikes along national lakeshore trails last winter she took up knitting at 63.

"The number one thing that drives me is fear of boredom," she said. "If I can find something I like to do, I go at it full speed."

Evans said society needs the contributions of older adults and is reshaping the definition of 'old.'

"We have held on for too long a negative image of aging," she said. "We can hang on to those images because it's expected. We can easily play into those myths. The whole idea is to challenge that. 'Who am I now and what can I expect and what do I want to be now at my age and phase and stage of my life?' What next? I do think that is a boomer question."