Senior Spotlight: Resilience During Retirement

A recent article in Next Avenue declares that “No one reaches retirement age without resilience ─ the ability to overcome challenges while maintaining a positive outlook.” The Bobbi Decker Real Estate team agrees! Today our Senior Spotlight is focused on a key capacity that can improve our quality of life and has been proven to increase with age: resilience.

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines resilience as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress,” or “bouncing back” from difficult experiences. One of the greatest things about resilience is that we all have the capacity to improve our resilience if we choose to do so. Plus, countless studies have proven that psychological resilience increases as we age, and one study even linked high resilience rates to people living to the age of 100 and beyond!

The benefits of resilience in older adulthood are virtually immeasurable. Resilience has been proven to help seniors adapt to the changes of retirement, the loss of loved ones, the ability to adapt to the physical limitations of aging, find new meaning in life, manage chronic health conditions and achieve better physical and mental health. But how do we maximize our resilience levels so that these benefits can be seen?!

The Next Avenue article we referenced above lists 7 ways to stay resilient (you can read them in full HERE): 1) Take action; 2) Seek & provide support; 3) Stay connected; 4) Preserve hope; 5) Maintain humor; 6) Do hard things & 7) Build physical strength & stamina.

Similarly, Board Certified Clinical Psychologist & Clinical Geropsychologist Regina Koepp adds these ways to build resilience: becoming active in the community, maintaining hopefulness, intentionally developing strong coping skills, cultivating optimism (think gratitude journals!), and embracing positive thinking and emotions.

While staying and building resilience is easier said than done, it is no doubt one of the most powerful and malleable ways we can cope with the changes of aging. The benefits are virtually endless, and the gift of many years behind us has created the experiences that serve as the foundation of our resilience springboard. Aim high!

Cheers,

Bobbi 

Bobbi Decker
DRE#00607999

Broker Associate
650.346.5352 cell
650.577.3127 efax
www.bobbidecker.com

NAR Instructor….“Designations Create Distinctions”
CIPS, SRS, ABR, CRS, SRES, GRI, CLHMS, REI, AHWD, RSPS, MSLG

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