retirement – Creative Strengths

[Photo credit: Anastasia Shuraeva/Pexels]

I have witnessed many people move into retirement. Some situations were voluntary, others mandatory. Some people flourished. Others declined. To better understand these differences, I frequently ask people, “What advice would you have for a successful retirement?”

After all, retirement may not bode well for the brain. Heightened risks for cognitive decline and depression can loom for some entering this life chapter (Ravindranath, 2025). In the older adult population, those individuals who are retired face higher levels of depression (Dang et al., 2022).

My conclusion at the moment: Successful retirement equals E+R. That is, “exercise” plus “relationships.” Perhaps the two things can even go hand in hand. It is a simplified formula, of course, and a preliminary thought about well-being at this juncture.

Exercise (“E”) represents one of the pillars of lifestyle psychiatry. However, many people fall short of the CDC recommendations for physical activity. The National Council on Aging related that less than one-third of older Americans meet the suggested mark in this category.

Viswanathan (2024) outlined the advantages of exercise at any age, including the release of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), improved cognitive functioning, and an increased volume of the hippocampus. It can also help with the reduction in the prevalence of depressive symptoms.

Another upside of exercise is its positive effect on chronic inflammation, which is a concern in both a cause and in signs of disease. People with sedentary lifestyles tend to have higher levels of inflammation, and consistent movement often has beneficial effects (Friedman, 2025).

“R” (relationships), another pillar in lifestyle psychiatry, are equally important. Beebe (2022) pointed to research finding that nearly 25% of people aged 65 or over are socially isolated. “This circumstance,” she added, “is often terrible for your health, including your heart.”

The link to mental health and other areas of physical health is also clear. Social isolation poses health risks equal to smoking, hypertension, and obesity. Social connections may even affect neurobiological circuitry in our brains and psychological resilience (Noordsy, Abbott-Frey, & Chawla, 2024).

Combining the “E” and “R” is one idea: Exercising with others could be a healthy option. According to the National Council on Aging, some programs offered by community organizations have evidence-based benefits in health for older individuals.

Another possibility—which holds for people of any age—is green space. Walking in nature has multiple benefits from improved overall mental health and cognition to decreased mortality and cardiovascular disease, according to Peter James at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Moran, 2023).

The hypothesis for this effect, James said, goes back to our roots: “We like being in nature because we are nature, we evolved in nature. This is the setting we were meant to be in” (Moran, 2023).

Admittedly, the E+R equation is basic. Other factors, such as diet, could be added, yet it seems to me that the exercise and relationship components are fundamental to success in retirement.

References

Beebe, J. (2024, November 7). 10 worst habits for your heart. AARP. https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/avoiding-unhealthy-heart-habits/

Dang, L., Ananthasubramaniam, A., & Mezuk, B. (2022). Spotlight on the challenges of depression following retirement and opportunities for interventions. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 17, 1037–1056. doi: 10.2147/CIA.S336301

Friedman, D. (2025, March 19). Here’s one more reason to try to exercise. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/well/move/inflammation-exercise.html

Moran, M. (2023, November). Movement emerges to include green space as a social determinant of mental health. Psychiatric News, pp. 16, 37.

National Council on Aging. (2023, December 1). Exercise programs that promote senior fitness. https://www.ncoa.org/article/exercise-programs-that-promote-senior-fitness/

Noordsy, D., Abbott-Frey, A., & Chawla, V. (2024, March). Lifestyle psychiatry emphasizes behaviors supporting mental health. Psychiatric News, 29-32.

Viswanathan, R. (2024, July 19). Exercise is neuroplastic medicine. Psychiatric News. https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2024.08.8.45

Starting something—a diet, a workout regimen, or a new language—can be challenging. Two steps forward, one step back. Making mistakes, then making more mistakes, and sometimes not recognizing the progress made.

Starting something later in life, such as after retirement, comes with its own challenges. Yet, at the same time, it is a period filled with tremendous creative potential.

In her book It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again, Julia Cameron makes precisely this point. She started piano lessons at age 60, and, even after five years of practice, she still considered herself a beginner. (She added that her piano teacher applauded her great progress over this time.)

Why might retirement—a stage when “free time” suddenly appears—be a time when creative ventures go unexplored?

Cameron pointed to one clear possibility: vulnerability. After a work life and a family life full of achievements, the “beginning again” exposes people. Following a rewarding young and middle adulthood, the ensuing stage of older adulthood may be one of hesitation in starting something anew.

In Cameron’s words, “Often, when we say it is ‘too late’ for us to begin something, what we are really saying is that we aren’t willing to be a beginner” (p. 7). After all, the words “novice” or “amateur” or “elementary” aren’t praiseworthy descriptors in older adulthood.

But not for everyone.

Consider Oh Yul Kwon, a professor emeritus at Griffith University in Australia who retired in 2013 and lives in Vancouver, BC. Never an athletic type growing up, he started running at age 60 after an elbow injury sidelined him from tennis. It was his daughter, a runner and triathlete herself, who then suggested running to him. At first the idea seemed a bit unusual. In his mind, running was boring. He recalled watching a colleague during a marathon and wondered, “Gee, how could people do that?”

Dr. Kwon ran his first marathon at age 68 in Brisbane, though he likely didn’t foresee where his “restart” would take him.

In 2016, a month after turning 80, he ran his second Boston Marathon. He finished in 22,064^th place. Completing a marathon at any age is an accomplishment, but this came with a special amount of pride. Shortly after crossing the finish line, his son told him that he had “won” the race, coming in first place in the men’s 80+ age group.

He credits his mental sharpness to running. “When I run,” he told me, “I do a lot of mental exercise” that includes reciting poems and doing calculations.

Dr. Kwon isn’t sure exactly many marathons he has run in his “restart.” The number is somewhere over 30, and altogether he estimates having crossed over 100 finish lines since his running ventures began.

His most recent accomplishment was completing the 2024 Vancouver Half Marathon, an event featuring over 4500 runners.

He has plans for another 13.1-mile race in Korea in the Fall. “I will run until I collapse,” he told the CBC News in 2016.

Dr. Kwon’s running restart typifies Cameron’s notion of beginning again, even when, in this case, it started with one step. As she wrote, “There is no such thing as a time that is ‘too late’ to begin a creative endeavor” (p. 111).

Photo credit: Oh Yul Kwon

References:

Cameron, J., & Lively, E. (2016). It’s never too late to begin again: Discovering creativity and meaning at midlife and beyond. TarcherPerigee.

Fisher, G. (2016, April 30). 80-year-old Boston Marathon champ from B.C. aims big for BMO Vancouver Marathon. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/80-year-old-boston-marathon-champ-from-b-c-aims-big-for-bmo-vancouver-marathon-1.3560887

Tag: retirement

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