Happiness, marriage and mismatched expectations in retirement with bestselling author Joanna Nell
This week we talk about the secrets to success in retirement. It's particularly poignant for couples approaching retirement together, knowing it's a really individual journey to rediscover yourself.
This week we talk about the secrets to success in retirement as a couple when it really is a very personal and individual journey.
Joanna Nell is a doctor, an advocate for positive ageing and the author of five best-selling novels. Her latest book, 'Mrs.Winterbottom takes a gap year', is a heartwarming exploration of mismatched expectations in your Prime Time years and early retirement. And it reinforces some of the importance of living life in the moment.
When I read her book, I felt like I was reading a fiction version constructed on many of the lessons I talk about in ‘How to Have an Epic Retirement’. So chatting with Joanna about the process of approaching a modern retirement was fun indeed.
The idea and role of a ‘retirement gap year’, which can be a real time of reinvention, between one phase of life and the next. A gap year or a period of transition, seems like a terrific concept for early retirement, now that we are having a more active phase of life in retirement than ever before. A time to challenge ourselves and find out who we are for the next stage of our lives.
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In episode 11 of Prime Time we have some great fun. Here’s some highlights:
We talked about her bestselling book, but also about the lessons about preparing for and transitioning to retirement we can all learn from the characters, Heather and Alan. They are both extraordinarily relatable to those going through retirement right now.
The book, which is set in Greece, embraces the Greek mythology of Homer and The Odyssey in a refreshing manner. The Odyssey is a story of great adventure but also of homecoming, and it is exciting to see this built out differently, around a female character.
The concept of retiring on a specific date, rather formally, expecting to never work again, and the problems having such an approach can have for people is reflected in the characters and how they both handle their journey really differently to each other.
The reality of mismatching perceptions of retirement within couples and how that can play enormous havoc as both people traverse their own retirement journeys. ‘Mrs Winterbottom Takes a Gap Year’ is frankly packed with really relatable observations about couples, marriage and this really personal individual journey to rediscover yourself in early retirement.
Solo travelling - even if you’re married - is garnering a lot greater popularity. We talk about how it can feel uncomfortable, but also how wonderful it can be, and how it is often more uncomfortable for other people than the person travelling alone.
Re-exploring your own sense of identity is a huge part of this book’s narrative. It takes in the changing ways that each character decides to dress, the new activities they try and both succeed and fail at. It also points politely to the expectations from loved ones that really are different to the expectation they might have for themselves.
Then, we talk about Joanna’s very personal journey of transition and transformation from being a GP to becoming a bestselling author in her 50s, and finding things that she is really passionate about.
Buy your own copy of ‘Mrs Winterbottom Takes a Gap Year’ here via Booktopia.
For a bit of fun this week I have a poll to help me learn more about you, our Prime Timers.
A little note
Welcome back to 2024 - the year where we will all learn how to make our Prime Time count.
On top of the pressure to set goals at new year, I also turned 48 last week. Both got me thinking about what I want to learn more about this year, kickstarting the second half of my life, which feels like it is arriving. And I have curiously concluded I want to learn how to age better, and how to stay fulfilled, to love what I do so much that I can stay in my Prime Time for a long time. At 48 I’m a fair way from any type of full retirement - but I can start my Prime Time now, balancing (or juggling) work, passion, friends and family, and lifestyle. I invite you to do the same. We don’t really have to retire in a linear manner in 2024 and beyond, and in fact most research on longevity says we live longer if we maintain meaningful activities (that can include meaningful work) in our lives longer. So that’s what this year will be about… weaving together projects that give us all a sense of purpose, a sense of being in our Prime Time. Do you have a sense of what the year ahead will hold for you? Drop me an email on bec@primetimers.net.
Thanks for listening to Prime Time. And thanks for all your lovely emails. It has been terrific hearing from everyone over the Christmas break. I am feeling very refreshed having taken time out to relax (and procrastinate on the writing of my second book 😉).
If you are enjoying Prime Time with Bec Wilson, or have feedback, ideas or thoughts on things you’d like us to cover, drop me an email at bec@primetimers.net.
Together let’s make our prime time count in 2024.
Many thanks! Bec Wilson
Author, columnist, retirement educator, podcast host and guest speaker