Retirement is a big change, and navigating this transition can be a challenge. For many people, retirement is fun at first. But eventually you may begin to feel that a life of leisure is not completely fulfilling and you need something else to do. The typical retiree has a lot of different lifestyle options. You need to decide what to do after you’ve experienced that first flush of freedom and relaxation.
[See: 12 Great Things About Retirement.]
Having a professional to turn to can help you gain perspective and clarify what’s missing in your life. A retirement coach can help you identify the changes you might want to make, and encourage you to take the necessary steps to overcome any obstacles to achieving your new goals. Perhaps your next phase of retirement will involve starting a new business, taking a trip around the world, pursuing untapped artistic abilities or developing a closer relationship with your children and grandchildren. Your coach can help you focus on the people and activities that are important to you, so you don’t end up aimlessly drifting though retirement.
There is no official certification to qualify as a retirement coach or life coach, but they often have a master’s degree in psychology, education or social work. A retirement coach typically does not focus on your finances. But just as a financial adviser can help steer you through the complexities of money and investing, a retirement coach can do the same for personal choices. In other words, they focus on everything that makes life worth living: your mental health, social connections, physical well being and even your spiritual world.
Here are four ways a professional coach can help you transition into retirement:
Provide a safe place to discuss your feelings. A coach can offer a sympathetic, non-judgmental opportunity for you to develop increasing self-awareness. He or she can help you identify what isn’t working in your life and develop strategies to overcome obstacles, increase self-confidence and rediscover your true priorities. But the job of a retirement coach is not to tell you what to do. It’s to listen to your story, help you identify what’s important and then point you in a direction where you can discover for yourself the things you want to accomplish.
[See: 12 Ways Retirees Spend Their Newfound Free Time.]
Help you identify and define your goals. Retirement may be your only chance to spend time entirely how you want to spend it. Think about what’s important to you, how you want to be remembered and what will motivate you to get out of bed in the morning now that you don’t have to clock into a job. Be prepared for some tough questions about life, death, regrets and forgotten dreams. By digging into your deepest desires, a coach can help you reconnect with long-lost interests or find a new passion in life.
Make sure you stay on track. A lot of people have a retirement goal, but without a strategy that dream is never realized. A coach can help you develop practical steps to achieve what you want — whether it involves a major lifestyle change, or just a few minor tweaks to your schedule. Your coach can also help make sure you stay on course. You may need assistance or encouragement to avoid the many distractions of retired life. With no one to answer to except yourself, it’s easy to put things off, extend your deadlines and find excuses for not doing what you really want to do. A coach can make sure you don’t lose sight of what’s important.
[See: 10 Retirement Rites of Passage.]
Be a kind of friend. A coach won’t tell you what you should be doing in retirement. Instead, the job of a coach is to listen, draw you out and get to the essence of who you are. They act more like a friend who will listen to your ideas, encourage your better self and put the brakes on any self-destructive activities. They can also help you navigate intangibles such as building a new social network or developing a new relationship. A good coach will follow up on your progress, take pride in your new interests and celebrate your accomplishments.
Tom Sightings is the author of “You Only Retire Once” and blogs at Sightings at 60.
More from U.S. News
The Top Travel Destinations for Retirees
The Best Places to Retire in 2018
What Can a Retirement Coach Do for You? originally appeared on usnews.com
