Yasmin: 0:08

Hello and welcome to the Real Retirement Show. My name is Yasmin.

Kathleen: 0:13

And I'm Kathleen.

Yasmin: 0:15

In this bonus episode, kathleen and I dive into a topic that touches the hearts of many retirees and those nearing this significant life chapter. That's the profound sense of loneliness that can accompany retirement. We'll explore the concept of propinquity, a key to fostering closer relationships, and how it can be applied to enrich our retirement experience. Join us as we discuss the importance of community shared experience and the journey of transition into this new phase of life, offering insights and stories to guide and inspire. So, whether you're retired, planning for it or supporting someone who is, this mini-episode promises to be an enlightening and heartwarming journey into making the most of our retirement years. Let's join our conversation Right now. Whether you're retired or not, loneliness is a huge epidemic. As connected as we are online, in many ways we're lacking that intimacy, that support.

Yasmin: 1:18

This year's focus is really about bringing people together to remind us that we're not alone, to share on this journey. And there's this term that I recently learned it's called propinquity, and I hadn't heard about it until literally last week in a conversation with a friend of mine. And propinquity is this concept of closeness and intimacy in relationships, and that closeness happens based on three key factors, and this was a research project that was done at MIT, where they discovered that those three factors are first, frequency how often you connect with someone. Also, the affinity, which is the things that you share in common. And the proximity.

Yasmin: 2:05

Now our vision is, through this show, this podcast, as well as our community experiences, that we bring people together. Proximity, whether it be virtually or in person, frequently, on a regular basis, and to share these common challenges that we face. And our goal is to elevate what's called the propinquity effect and that way we invite people to not feel alone but to know that there's others that are out there. And whether you are going through retirement yourself, or maybe you know someone who is, or maybe a family member or a loved one is going through retirement, this opportunity is for us to share that wisdom so that we can support those around us as well.

Kathleen: 2:50

What we want more than anything is we want to give you practical guidance and emotional support for this retirement journey, and having a sense of community with shared experiences. Those are the things that are really high on our priority list, and we hope that they are on yours as well. I was a business coach for 10 years. I remember one of the first thing I would say to any of my clients is why on earth would you expect to have to do this alone? Especially as an entrepreneur, you need someone to help you guide the way, and that's really what retirees are. They're kind of like entrepreneurs that are entering into this world that they've never done before, they've never been there. They shouldn't do it themselves and they don't have to. We are going to offer community workshops so that people with like-minded interest in certain topics can get together and have a conversation, and, of course, the experts that we bring in along the way will certainly highlight some of these, but it's time to listen, process and engage in our community.

Yasmin: 3:56

You're spot on, Kathleen.

Kathleen: 3:58

And I just want to take a second here and share my transition, if you will. One of the things that I did in my transition was to prepare two years in advance. I knew that it would take at least two years to sell my businesses and in fact I was spot on, except COVID got in the way. So if you take COVID out of the picture, I'm spot on. But in that planning I decided where do I want to live? How do I want to live? Do I want to have an exciting life again? Do I want to write another book? Who do I want this next journey to look like?

Kathleen: 4:33

So, as I kind of documented in my mind, saying yes to everything and deciding did that really bring me joy? Those are the things that shape our experience for the future, and I think that when we realize all of the ups and downs that we've had in our life really positions us to have the knowledge and the background of what we don't want Just as much as not knowing what we do want. We have to single out what we don't want, and I think that I've always believed that relationships have a life expectancy and so trying to hold on to friendships that really have expired. I'm going to just say it that way is critical for your next step, because you have to open your life to new experiences and I really think that what you have done provides you for what you will do.

Yasmin: 5:33

Wow, that letting go piece is so important, not only at this stage but any stage in our life, that letting go of the past, the attachment. Well, kathleen, I remember you sharing that when you officially stepped into retirement, you were saying yes to everything. Tell me a little bit more about what that was like and what that was about.

Kathleen: 5:51

Thanks Yasmin for remembering that. Not only did I sell my businesses, I had five franchises. I sold those, I built a new home through COVID and then I moved to a new city. So in doing all that I didn't know anyone and I was trying to make new acquaintances and there were new opportunities that came my way and I just said yes to everything because I was committed to find what's fit and, to be perfectly honest, there's a lot of things I would never do again, but I did them and it was a good experience. I met a lot of people and I think that if it's all about mindset, you have to be positive, you have to be outgoing. It's kind of like networking and business all over again. You just have to network in your new life.

Yasmin: 6:39

What has life been like since this past year?

Kathleen: 6:43

There were highs and there were lows. There was excitement, there was a lot of joy, there was a lot of indecision and I'm typically not an indecisive person but when you're trying to go a new path, there's lots of options and sometimes when you see a fork in the road, you're not really sure which way to go, because you don't know where that takes you. And actually I think that's one of the reasons that we decided to continue with this project, because if you are traveling a path that you've never gone down, it would be wonderful to have some advice from people who have gone before you, and I found that there wasn't much of that in my world, so it did have kind of a rocky stop and start, but my life is good. I love my life.

Yasmin: 7:29

Kathleen, you've always been an inspiration to me, both from a career perspective and then also now as you are transitioning, or have been transitioning into retirement.

Kathleen: 7:38

Yasmin, I'm just so, so thrilled that you invited me on this journey with you. Well, to all of those people who are out there, planning it, thinking of it, living it, have a wonderful journey and we'll see you next time. Remember, if you're on YouTube, subscribe. It's important for us to get to in the tribe. We want to see as many people, and then, of course, we'll be able to communicate more effectively with you and answer your questions and plan for some of the topics that you're interested in.

Yasmin: 8:08

Awesome. Well, we'll include all the links in our show notes for you, and in the meantime, may joy be with you, have a joyful retirement journey, and we look forward to connecting with you again next week.

Kathleen: 8:20

Next week.

Yasmin: 8:22

Take care, bye-bye.