Don't Retire, Reinspire

Hello, wonderful listeners! I'm Lyn Nikoloff, your friendly podcast host. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and get cozy because you're in for a delightful treat!
Welcome to "Don't Retire, Reinspire" – the podcast where we reimagine retirement as a time for new adventures and exciting opportunities. Join me on this exhilarating journey as we explore how to make every moment count, discovering new passions and reigniting old flames.
Expect heartwarming stories and practical tips to help you create a retirement filled with purpose and joy. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to be inspired as we uncover the secrets to a vibrant and fulfilling retirement.
Today, dear friends, we're diving into the world of social media! You might think it's just for the younger crowd, but guess what? We're rocking it too! Let's start with the granddaddy of them all – Facebook! It's like the family reunion of social media platforms, where you can catch up with everyone from your high school buddies to your second cousin twice removed
But hey, if you're more of a visual person, YouTube's your go to! From DIY home projects to classic music videos, there's something for everyone. And speaking of careers, LinkedIn's where it's at. Time to make some professional connections!
Now, don't sleep on Instagram and Pinterest either. Who says we can't share some killer sunset pics or find inspiration for our next craft project? And X formerly Twitter? Well, let's just say it's the place to be for breaking news and some witty banter.
Last but not least, let's not forget WhatsApp—perfect for keeping those family group chats lively with messages, calls, and maybe even a bit of gossip!
So, whether you're sharing recipes, staying in the loop with current events, or just keeping in touch with loved ones, there's a social media platform out there with your name on it. Let's dive in and stay connected, because age is just a number, right?
Now I am a classic boomer, and I have a facebook account. Did you know it is the number one social media site for baby boomers so they tell us and according to the Lyn research data.
Most of my friends and family are on Facebook which is why it is my number one social media site. Do you use it to stay in touch with family and friends too?
I use it to check up on latest crafting techniques and seasonal décor, I occasionally post content – I did post more content in the early years but have moved away from that even though my security settings are at the highest level. I also no longer post photos of the grandies. I do post occasional interesting photos but only on two group pages I belong to – one I am an admin of and the other the Radio Ferrymead Facebook Page.
I certainly don’t like to comment in public posts but these posts do keep me up to date with the happenings in friends’ lives. Although I have noticed they too are posting less frequently. I think everyone is becoming more conscious of protecting their privacy and sick of the changes to FB such that adverts seem to be its purpose.
So while it is a site where I can find other boomers, like former school mates or workmates, for me the shine has gone off it – the algorithms make it addictive mindless scrolling. It needs to come with a health warning like cigarettes.
However, I believe that FB does have a role in our reinspired lives – but only if we make it work for us such as finding people we want to connect with off line and move the chat to maybe messenger, snap chat or a local cafe. And this is the reason why I maintain my FB account– where would I be without messenger.
Are you like me and no longer phone friends and family instead video messaging them. It’s great because you can each be doing things yet still be engaged. It’s a bit like how friends use to stop by for a cuppa and chin wag.
Like my cousin the other night when she was sick– I called her to see how she was and could see she was all wrapped up in front of the fire having a bowl of homemade soup (now that makes me envious because she like her mother is an outstanding cook). So we chatted and I kept her company while she had her tea. We were both warm, no long drives home and importantly we were connecting on an important level.
Now I do search you tube for how to videos, like every time I have to put away the grandies princess tent and can never remember how to fold the dam thing – you know its like a pup tent and you have to contort yourself to scrunch it back into a bag no bigger than a box of Kornies. I have recently used you tube to learn how to podcast. I know that millennials, such a smy children, use it all the time – gone are instruction booklets – they just you tube it. In fact sometimes you wonder if they can read as everything they do seems so visual and auditory.
I also use you tube for useful videos for my training programmes – I am always amazed that someone has thought of the very topic. I do recommend using it if there is something you want to know about something or how do it - then search you tube.
I also watch old movies like Mr Bean on you tube. It’s a great resource worth tapping into if are researching ideas for uncovering your passion or maybe just wanting to give something a try without spending too much money or effort.
LinkedIn is another social media site while primarily targeted at business it is where you need to be if you are looking to leverage your skills and knowledge – maybe looking for contract work or offering your expertise. If you want to retain relevancy then this is the site for you because you not only establish a network you also get access to their networks. You can join online groups and forums meeting like-minded people and leveraging opportunity. There are also e- learning opportunities and seminars. >>>>>>>>>>>
Now I have just looked at three social media sites that offer new ways for to get engaged in a reinspired life. There are many more such as Instagram and Tik Tok but I do believe that they are less about social networks and more about aspirational and inspirational content. I don’t use either.
Social connections are important for a reinspired life especially if we have left the formal workplace. Some of the things I miss from the workplace are the social get togethers – you know the shared morning teas and Christmas parties. Do you remember those too? But now I think about it many of those social gatherings were pre pandemic. I think things are different now with so many working from home and each workplace or organisation has its own protocols about such events.
And now we all have access to social media, many in person gatherings are often replaced by virtual get togethers. Yet we are social creatures and still need social interactions especially during time of change.
Thinking back to the burbs of my childhood I know my mother found it really hard when we moved from the flat in town to the developing eastern suburbs in Christchurch. She missed her city friends.
In the burbs nearly every mum felt like her – bogged down in nappy valley and the daily grind of wringer washing machines and mortgages. The day was only broken up by the postie and the builders hammering away in the next street.
The mums would find every excuse to escape like the monthly family benefit day – they would head off to town with babies in prams, toddlers on reins and a purse full of cash from the cashed family benefit cheque. In town they would meet up with friends and former workmates.
For the rest of the month life was pretty dull, so gossip was the rocket fuel that powered their day.
Most days the mums of the hood would gather over the fence or pop in for a cuppa. The promise of a chin wag at Mrs Camerons was enough to give my mum a sense of purpose to the day – pegging out the washing in a flash, whipping the carpet sweeper over the lounge floor, and shouting to us kids to bugger off as she didn’t want us messing up the house while she was out.
Before leaving the house she turned off the radio, prepared to miss that day’s episode of Portia faces life for a gossip session.
Arriving at Mrs Cameron’s she would call out ‘yoo hoo’ at the back door and waddle in – the mums of the hood never used front doors, they were for visitors only and they were not visitors. They were the mums.
Jean would put the jug on telling everyone there was news – yes N E W S news. While the tea brewed the gossip of the day was introduced – details to follow later.
The brown tea was then poured as the mums ooohed and ahhed over the spread. Mrs Cameron mentioned that she had taken a plate of pikelets to the men at work fixing the pot hole in the road. Murmurs of approval. You had to feed the men at work or it would take weeks to get the road fixed.
After the first sips of hot tea the gossip began. The air was soon filled with grey brown smoke from the Capstan cigarettes and tut tuts from pursed lips.
Did she really, wow fancy that, who ever knew, … and then when the plate of scones or sugar buns had been eaten, and with the kids knocking on the window wanting lunch or tea mum would head home.
Arriving home - the kids didn’t seem so annoying and the house didn’t seem such a prison after these gossip sessions. This was mum’s way of making the transition from inner city living to the burbs and raising the baby boomer generation. It was a lifeline to her and so many like her.
Those days are well gone, even by the late 60s these neighbourhood friends had moved on as their youngest children started school. They re-entered the workforce with workmates replacing the neighbourhood mums. However now that I am transitioning from the workplace I am beginning to realise that my friends are the equivalent of the mums from the hood. I need them to support this transition just as mum needed her neighbours to transition to the burbs.
I am aware of all the benefits of maintaining social connections such as helping to combat loneliness and reducing the risk of depression. While I stay in touch using social media, there s nothing like a chin wag over a freshly baked blueberry muffin or a shared shopping trip.
Ideas happen when we get together like a few years ago, just before covid, a friend and I were enjoying lunch at a local café and before you know it we had decided that a sojourn to the Gold Coast was what we needed. By the time we had finished our coffee we had a plan – within 5 minutes we were at the travel agent booking the trip. Who would have thought it! This is what social connection does – you pick up how the friend is really doing and one thing leads to another, in this case a memorable week in the sun!
And the research is quite clear that making and keeping social connections is important for staving off cognitive decline. And that’s a good enough reason to reach out even when it’s not easy to do. I watched my mother disappear into the mists of dementia, undoubtedly exacerbated by years of social isolation, of her choosing. But I can make different choices. And so can you!
I know how it felt during the covid 19 lock down – when we all felt a sense of isolation and dislocation as we worked from home, and were not able to socialise. However, what we did learn was new ways to connect – it was then that I started using messenger to keep in touch. Prior to then I had used it to message people not video chat.
Also out of those challenging times came new connections. In my neighbourhood people started to chat to each other while on their daily walks– all socially distanced of course. I also decorated a blackboard and added a quote of the day that seemed relevant to our collective experience and fear – I was surprised to hear that so many of my neighbours made an effort to check the message each day. One couple even sent a photo of the day’s blackboard quote to their children in Europe. Many commented that they missed the blackboard. Maybe perversely we enjoyed the forced social connectedness of a pandemic.
The same thing happens in natural disasters like the 2011 Christchurch earthquake – even before the dust had settled strangers were helping strangers. Neighbours were talking to each other, just like the mums of the hood. People looked out for each other – everyone made the effort to connect because they were feeling the same way.
We are inherently social creatures, we need company, we need connection and we need conversation.
I have found it helpful to find friends who are experiencing the same things I am like the mums of the hood, the earthquake refugees and covid lockdown captives. I have struck up a friendship with a fellow radio announcer, we are both new to the city.
I have a relative who has joined a bereavement group after the passing of her husband – she finds the group of some comfort because the group know how she feels. There are many such support groups and they can be a vital source of comfort while we are transitioning.
Recently a friend relocated to Melbourne for work – a great career move, but a big city can be unwelcoming even to a gregarious person. She used meeting .com app to find events that aligned with her search for new friends. She has now connected with some likeminded people. Of course, she had to attend many gatherings to find her tribe and it has taken almost twelve months. But she got there.
I have found since relocating to Christchurch that I still retain most of my social connections thanks to social media. This is quite unlike my mum’s experience when she moved to the burbs. And LinkedIn is a great way to stay connected with business colleagues and industry. So if we are to live a reinspired life we need to use the tools available to retain social connections and make new ones.
If you would like person to person social connections, then here are some ideas of what I am trying – but you do you!
1. Joining Clubs and Organizations:
• I have joined a local line dancing club because I love dancing and I have also joined a book club. I am meeting like minded people at both clubs.
• While I am yet to participate in other activities and classes offered in the local community it is on my radar to do so. It’s like a smorgasbord or tapas you have try a bit of this and that before you hone in on the activity and people who are just like you. Have you tried any activities? How is that going for you? We would love to hear
2. Volunteering
• I am volunteering at a local radio station whose values and interests align with mine and I have met some great people. I am also enjoying listening to new genres of music as I research my programmes.
3. Taking Classes and Continuing to learn:
• I am learning how to podcast so that keeps me busy watching you tube videos and improving my skills and knowledge. I am now learning how to use a second microphone so I can do some interviews – another opportunity to learn.
• If I see any workshops or seminars that pique my interest I will certainly be attending as I know it’s a great way to meet like-minded individuals. What are you planning to do? A family member recently attended a wood turning course and is now planning to make us all bowls for Christmas. Maybe there is a seminar or elearning on LinkedIn that piques your interest.
4. Staying Physically Active:
• I walk daily and also join an online exercise class four times a week. These are both great for the body and the online class is very social. I always feel better after our class. If you want to get physically active maybe try a class at the gym or local pool or engage a personal trainer to design a programme for you. Set some fitness goals too!
• What are you doing to stay active? Maybe you could try cycling –seek out fellow cyclists and do a group ride using social media. Or how about disc golf or croquet?
5. Attending Social Events:
• I always say yes to any social events I am invited to which is a great way to meet people.
6. Traveling and Exploring:
• I enjoy traveling although I am less of a tourist and more of a temporary local. I am spending the winter planning a few spring sojourns with family and friends. You might like to join a local travel group or take group tours to explore new places and meet new people. There are many groups like Probus that offer bus trips for members – these can be a great way to get out of the house and enjoy some company. There are also tour groups for single women too. Try using social media to find these groups and who knows where your next adventure will lead..
7. Starting a New Hobby:
• I have several crafts that I enjoy and I like to learn new techniques. Recently I learnt how to make fake bake cakes after watching a youtube video. We now have a display of them in the kitchen. I am always on the search for new ideas and activities such as seasonal décor. It’s my thing.
• With so much content online, especially on You Tube it is easy to find a new hobby or craft and once you do then search online for likeminded people.
• There are many community gardens that need help and expertise so if gardening is your passion then join in.
8. Being Proactive:
• I am reach out to friends and acquaintances to arrange a catch up – it doesn’t have to be every weekly - once a month or bimonthly is usually fine. to meet for lunch or a walk. Recently I invited a group of former school mates to join a book club and we met for Matariki- Mid winter celebration. Its important that I make the effort or it just wont happen.
In our reinspired life we need to use the tools that are availble to maintain and build social connections. Use social media to find people like you or to stay in touch. It’s easier now than it has ever been – our parents and grandparents had to settle down to a life that had fewer and fewer social connections as they got older. Their lives were mostly lonely.
We have no excuse – we have plenty of tools to connect and stay connected it’s up to us to use them in a way that works for us. Use LinkedIn to stay in the know about your colleagues and industry, use messenger to offset loneliness, find your tribe using facebook, you tube it if you don’t know how, connect on pinterest or find the social media tool that works for you.
Baby boomers are technologically capable so use social media to stay in touch and to find people who are also transitioning form the formal workplace and seeking a reinspired life too.
"In a world where technology and social media are supposed to bring us closer together, we often find ourselves feeling more disconnected than ever. True connection comes from the heart, not the Wi-Fi signal." (Unknown)
“Staying connected doesn’t mean you have to talk every day. It means you understand each other, respect each other, and enjoy each other's company despite the distance." (Unknown)
"The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity." (Keith Ferrazz)
“Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness. Staying connected with loved ones is essential for a fulfilling life." (Unknown)
"In a world full of fast-paced technology, remember that the most powerful connections are still made face-to-face." (Unknown)
Here’s today’s takeaway: When we leave the formal workplace we might miss more than the income, we may also miss the camaraderie and friendships. Staying connected in the reinspired years is essential for our mental and emotional wellbeing so make new connections – join a club, enrol in a class or run a class, volunteer, and keep in touch.
This is don’t retire reinspire signing off. Our next episode will feature a chat with Di Dobson, a fellow radio announcer who has had to make new connections due to the untimely loss of her husband and relocating to a new town. It will be a good one.
Thank you for your company today, and please share with us your stories about making new connections after leaving the formal workplace and how these connections have enhanced your wellbeing. See the show notes for our email address.
And …Please follow or subscribe to this podcast, and share the link with your family, friends and new connections. Let’s all live a reinspired life.
This podcast was produced by Antony Radley