WORDS OF WISDOM
In a new series, we look at the good, the bad and the funny side of getting older. Emma Clifton talks to seven residents from the Logan Campbell Retirement Village about everything from freedom and friendship, to love and loss, to keeping active and healthy, and even the purpose of life. This is the inal part in our series.
How did you cope when you rst retired?
CYNDI: Once the novelty wore off I thought, “What am I going to do?” I hated it, I think I cried. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I went out for coffee every day and then I thought, “Well, wait on – I’m not working, there’s no money coming in. This isn’t a good habit to get into!” I’m aiming to go and work in a hospice shop. COLLEEN: It was like hitting a brick wall for me. I retired from nursing but then I went and sold clothes for two years. And that was just a piece of cake. But this is the time of your life where you get that chance to have some time – I loved gardening and meeting up with my friends, and it was wonderful, because I’d never really had that opportunity before. EMMA: We did a lot of travelling when I retired, we went away to Europe for six months. It was helpful – you didn’t miss the working. And then when we came home… I just got another job. When you’ve been working and a mother, then suddenly you feel like you’re not useful any more. Or your use-by date, as they say, is up.
What do you do to stay healthy?
EMMA: I’ve always been lucky that I have been healthy. I do a lot of walking – probably about 9km a day. That keeps me going. Apart from that, it’s down to my genes I suppose. No matter what you do, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? CYNDI: I’m healthy, never had an issue. I do a lot of sport. I play a lot of golf! EMMA: If you do have a problem, you’re right here [in the village] – you don’t have to worry. That’s the beauty of it really.
“I’ve always been lucky that I have been healthy. I do a lot of walking – probably about 9km a day.”
Would you describe yourself as a spiritual person?
EMMA: I would say that I do believe in that sort of side of things. Having lost our daughter when she was in her 30s to lupus, you have to believe in something to reconnect with that side of life. So you do think about whether there’s an afterlife, I suppose.
COLLEEN: I feel that faith, hope and charity are all tied up with love. You need an anchor. You come into the world on your own and you go out on your own, and this is where some people are lonely because they don’t have anyone, and you need something that is centring in your heart, right throughout your life.
DENISE: I was brought up a Catholic. I haven’t been to a church for many reasons, but being here, I’ve got a greater understanding of the older person, with the older people around me. I believe there’s something coming out in me that I never knew I had, in the care of the older person. As soon I see somebody that can’t quite make it down the stairs, I’ll go over and help them. Two years ago, I would have just walked past – I wouldn’t have noticed them.
WAYNE: I adhere to the Christian principles. I’ve got no problem with religion in general, but more about the problems it creates, rather than solves. But I do have a theory about people who take on religion in later life – they’re wondering what’s going to happen when you reach the dark side. I have had a peek over the fence when I had my heart thing. There were a couple of guys trying to call me over and I said no. I had nine people around my bed, with those things on my chest. I believe religion for some people is a form of insurance. As they get older, they’re very concerned about what’s going to happen to them and they want to try and rectify some of the faults, the mistakes they’ve made. So they take on religion to try.
BOB: I died brie y when I was in hospital and they were all packing up and leaving and then I came back. I like to think I brought myself back. I’m an Anglican priest, I have been for 40 years. So my concept of spirituality is where you live in yourself, how you understand who you are, how you work together to make it work. Not saying, “God can you help us?”
ANDY: I believe God is in here [points to his heart].
BOB: Yes! That’s it.
“I feel that faith, hope and charity are all tied up with love. You need an anchor.”