Saturday, November 30, 2019

Going Going Gone!...how much longer will the beat go on?

My 59th Wedding Anniversary Pic...how much
longer will the "beat go on"?
I don't know if you have noticed but Retire in Style Blog is GONE and may never be back. It seems that while I was traveling and getting ready to travel and unpacking after traveling my blog domain expired. This is not a good thing for my life but the beat goes one.

The blog has a new name...Retire in Style Blog Too.  Simple and straight forward. I don't know that anyone is missing me that won't know about this as soon as I publish on Facebook and the groups I belong to there. The thing that upsets me is that my stats were pretty darn good.

In fact, I had accumulated of 1,400,000 views. Thankfully, I don't earn any money so I suppose it is just a tempest in a teapot. The only thing that is hurt is my pride.

The interesting thing is I could not figure out what was going on. It never occurred to me that something like this could happen. Everything was on automatic pay. But the thing is our credit cards had been hacked, we changed them and I didn't realize the implications for that. Going on auto pilot can get you into trouble.

I went to a forum to see if I could get answers for 0 traffic and inability to access the blog page. Several people were having the same trouble...what was up? Then it occurred to me what the problem was. I personally have bid on my original blog domaine, bought a couple others and have moved to my new address. Phew...!

Now all I have to do is find a stat counter that allows me to start where I left off. That might not happen but it is worth a try!

Here's a good question for you...At the age of 78 now many years do you renew your domain for?

Have a wonderful day...I have missed you all.

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Thursday, November 28, 2019

The Little Black Dot

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Published back in 2013...still relevant:

If you look at the page of life after retirement, be sure to look past that little black dot. The whole world waits for you.


In a post I wrote several year ago called How To Be A Snowbird I talked about how you can find a way to load up the bare essentials and travels south to escape the cold, dreary and wet/snowy north. People around the world that can afford it do this every year. Even those people that live in the southern hemisphere probably look for warmth during their winters.

In an inspirational blog post put up back in 2012 the black dot appeared in a story told by "Steven" on a website called Motivation.  In the story, a group needing to see a bigger future for their community was inspired by a simple black dot in the middle of a blank piece of paper.
During her presentation, the speaker took a large piece of white paper and made a small black dot at the center with a marking pen. Then she held the paper up before the group and asked them what they saw.

One person quickly replied, “I see a black dot.”

“Okay, what else do you see?”

Others joined in agreement: “A black dot.”

“Don’t you see anything besides the dot?” – she asked.

A resounding “No” came from the audience.

“What about the sheet of paper?” – asked the speaker. “I am sure you have all seen it”, she said, “But you have chosen to overlook it.”

“In life, we also tend to overlook and take for granted many wonderful things that we have or happen around us and focus our attention and energy on [the] small dot...."
When we retire our options are open to us like they have never been before in our life. We are not tied to a place on the face of the earth because of a job. Our children are grown and truly need to live a life free of us for at least part of every year. And all of us have dreamed of what we would do if we had that freedom. Admit it, on those days when the job drove you crazy or your responsibilities as a parent seemed overwhelming, you dreamed of a kind of freedom that was impossible at that time.

The dream is there and yet many of us focus on the black dot in the middle of our page in life and forget to even glance at the blank page and it's possibilities. It is right in front of our face.

I hear women say they cannot leave their grandchildren.

Men will immediate take up a volunteer life or get so involved with a hobby that they forget to find a way to include their spouse in something they will both enjoy.

Many simply don't see the option as possible even though it can be affordable. They are afraid of change.

Their whole life is about the small black dot when a whole blank page is ready to be explored.

Being a snowbird is an opportunity to explore that blank page. As a retiree a person you can spend a little time here or there. If one day later in that stage of their life they decide to settle down, they will have experience and knowledge about that they can do.

I always keep a list of the options close at hand. My husband and I like change a lot and are not looking forward to a time when we are glued to the floor. Here are a few ideas that might help you spread your wings and try something new.
  1. Buy a very small trailer that you can tow behind your car and go out and see our country. That is what we did first and I think it was one of our most valuable experiences. We learned that we were up for adventure and could take risks without harm.
  2. Take advantage of a timeshare you have owned FOREVER and didn't use. Go to Mexico or the Caribbean or even South Carolina. 
  3. Visit a location near to someone you know. They can show you the ropes. I know so many people that have done this and found a whole new life.
  4. Consider your options and take a look at your finances to see what you could afford if you were to find a vacation home in the warmth of winter sunshine.
  5. Keep in mind that very affordable yet simple living in places like Arizona are available. We have settled in a small old park model that we have turned into a doll house. It is so affordable that we can stay for 6 months in the desert AND travel. We own one car and drive back and forth from Oregon to Arizona and back.
  6. Buy a Camper Life book and explore the options at campgrounds around the USA. Many, many have rentals in simple facilities that are wonderful.
  7. Read, read, read. Travel books, blog posts and even websites that Lonely Planet give a window to the world and have all the information you need to make a dream vacation.
  8. Always keep in mind facilities like AirBNB when you travel. You can stay in a house and get a feel for how real people live almost anyplace in the known world. I like that option a lot. Living like a tourist is a lot different than living like a local!
  9. Explore options for hobbies that you had not thought of before. Who knows, you may love geocaching a lot.
  10. If you love golfing, hiking or gardening in the north in the summer, remember traveling south makes those hobby possible year around. RV resort offer jewelry making, music group participation and theater groups for you admission to the park. Trust me, you will never run out of things to do.
    In my Oregon garden
So there you have a few. Don't focus on a dot in the middle of the page when the whole wide world is waiting for you.

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Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Being an Outlier Sucks!

I wrote a story for my grandchildren last winter and part of the story involved making friends. I created a list of ideas for how you might do that. One of those ideas was to become invisible.

The thought was that if you were nice to everyone, cooperated and called everyone by name you would become more interesting and likable. For the child being invisible was all about fitting in.

On the flip side, the idea of  being invisible is not good for the elders. Elders can fit in so well that they become a part of the furniture. It is the last thing we want. We really don’t want to have to shout over everyone to be heard. Being invisible sucks! To hear elders talk a person begins to think that older people are put upon and need more than anyone should be asked to give. Are we abused? I truly doubt it. Continue reading....

So, when I was reading Engaging with Age again the other day I noticed that the author talked about being invisible. She called that experience being an “outlier”. As elders we fit the definition for that word perfectly...we are best example of the geology of the outlier: we are the older rocks among the younger rock.
Old Rocks Need to Get Involved
out·li·er
/ˈoutˌlīər/
noun
  1. a person or thing situated away or detached from the main body or system.
    "less accessible islands and outliers"
    • a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set.
      "an outlier in Faulkner's body of work"
    • a younger rock formation isolated among older rocks. (Or in our case, older rocks isolated among younger rocks.)
All is not hopeless though. I felt that the task the author of that blog set out for herself to overcome becoming an outlier was one that required her to act, not one that had everyone else changing. She speaks often of collaborating with family, friends and even her doctors.

She said that we need to find ways to develop new relationships with people. By finding a way to fit in among the younger rocks we needed to go their world and show an interest in them. In our world of elders it is easy to become so impressed with our own knowledge that we forget that younger people know stuff too. It is simply that simple!

I find her words so very interesting. Engaging with her age means just that...engaging actively.

What do you think? Are you engaging with your age or are you waiting for the world to make your elder life easier?


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Reference: Engaging with Aging post called As I’m Green I’m Growing

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