Mariner is older than most folks. Old enough, in fact, to look back on that time when a person suddenly becomes old – retired from career, lifelong friends and family are disappearing, maybe even die, institutions that were the core of society back in the day are not mainstream anymore, children and grandchildren are off living that life an old person remembers with melancholy.
Humans, by their nature, are born and raised to be collaborative. Each person contributes to the sustenance needed by themselves and their family and even, in these modern times, needed by God and Country. It is natural for a person to take on a roll that contributes to others as well as to themselves.
But what to do when that roll disappears, when that roll is no longer meaningful to the day-to-day world, when the roll a person played in life has become passé? The answer is to keep it going. Remember the old days when a person had to look for a job or go hungry? Remember when parents had to move to a new region and it meant having to find new friends at school? Remember when the company laid off people and they had to start over?
It’s that time again.
No one does this job for the new oldster. The oldster must make a concerted effort, often taking a year or two, to find a new way to collaborate with fellow humans. Most adjustments relate to known skills and social behavior but don’t overlook something completely new.
One of mariner’s old friends had a career working 40 years in the offices of a large corporation. When he retired, he became a carpenter specializing in refurbishing home attics. Word-of-mouth recommendations kept him busy full time.
Mariner’s wife, a career librarian and author, has established a busy day by working whenever needed at the town library, belonging to writers and readers clubs, is active in her church, maintains a visiting network with friends who go back to her childhood in the town, remaining on a daily contact basis with lifetime friends and her children, participating in art and exercise programs – and still takes care of mariner!
A couple mariner knows are retired from running a grocery store. The wife makes artistic refrigerator magnets and sells them at town fairs across the midwest, saying that the fair sales and a tax write off pay for their vacation.
For most new oldsters, collaborative participation comes from continuing the skills and behaviors of their lifetime. For example, carpenters can continue their trade by taking on smaller projects that full time contractors find unprofitable. Hobbyists who knit, make jewelry or create artwork of any kind can use their hobby by connecting with small stores, charitable organizations and selling at fairs and yard sales.
New oldsters with a background in humanities may have to be a bit more creative to find a way to use their skills. Search politics, religion, social work or presentations in retirement homes, charity organizations, community and local government organizations. History has many famous examples of old folks becoming authors – social media is waiting.
If the new oldster is sitting in a recliner watching television and scrolling games on the smartphone, get of your ass and find a new collaboration. Otherwise, depression, loneliness and boredom will be the new lifestyle.
Ancient Mariner