Episode 13 Go-Go, Slow-Go, No-Go

In this episode, hosts Hope and Harold  introduce the the different stages of retirement, cleverly labeled "Go-Go, Slow-Go, No-Go." This concept, inspired by Robert's Active Retirement YouTube channel, aims to explore the emotional and practical shifts retirees experience as they navigate their later years. 

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Transcript

 Hello, and welcome to You Still Have Time. We're your hosts. I'm Hope. And I'm Harold. And of course, we welcome all of you back who have been with us before, and we welcome for the first time all of you who are joining us for the first time. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll enjoy what you hear. That's a different hear. It was H-E-R-E and then H-E-A-R. You got that right. Anyway, um, I digress. Today's episode we're calling... Slow go? No. No. Go, go. Get it right. Go, go. Slow go. No go And if you saw our teaser, you probably wondered, "What the heck does that mean?" But if you're in one of those categories, you probably know what it means. It- these are, are, uh, code words, I guess, for s- the different stages of retirement or, you know, our senior years. As many of you probably know, or maybe you don't know, coming up with these topics for our episodes is sometimes very difficult. So we look at whatever we read when we see other podcasts or YouTube channels or Facebook posts, we have taken the liberty of stealing them or copying the ideas. No, no, no, no. Yeah We're not copying- We're- ... we're sharing ... we're sharing. That's right. We're amplifying their message. So I saw this p- podcast. It wasn't... Actually, it was a YouTube channel, Robert's Active Retirement YouTube page, and he had the different stages of retirement defined as go-go, slow-go, and no-go. So we thought that, "Hmm, this'd be an- this would be an interesting topic to talk about for our podcast listeners." And it made a lot of sense because we've been through a stage or two. So you, Harold, you want to tell everyone what these, uh, three st- how these three stages are defined? So again, these are not, these are not stages etched in stone. The categories are, the category ages are flexible. We've seen a, a few different examples, uh, on, on the internet, but roughly, the go-go years are those years from the time you retire, whatever age that is, um, up until your mid-70s. So these are the years where you have usually prepared for that day when you never, you didn't have to respond to that alarm clock in the morning, and you had all the things that you were going to do set, so that when you retired, you're gonna take that trip that you, those trips that you were planning on taking. You're gonna read those books that you were planning on reading. You're gonna fix the house. You're gonna do your gardening. Now you have the time to do. So that's us- And usually, these are the years that you're in the best of health also And there's an emotional part to these go-go years too, the, the emotional stages to the go-go years. Um, the honeymoon period, that's the period where Harold was talking about when that Monday morning comes and the alarm goes off, and you don't have to get up, and you lie there and you say, "Oh my God, I don't have to get up. I don't have to get on a bus or a train or in the car and go to work. I don't have to do that. I'm home, and I'm happy." Um, it's... So you know, it's like a euphoria almost. Um, you know, they, they call it the honeymoon period, and of course, we know that honeymoons don't last forever. So then comes a- another stage where, yes, this go-go time, yes, you have energy and you have hobbies that you wanna get into and travel that you wanna do, but sometimes there comes a point during that time when you say, "Oh, gosh, um, well, what really..." I mean, you can't travel all the time. Um, and you begin to think, "Well, who am I?" And Harold and I have had this discussion and kind of agreed, at least for people in our age categories, for men especially, how do they define themselves? You know, they're used to defining themselves by what they do, and if you're not doing that anymore, then who are you? Are you just, "Oh, I'm retired"? But- I don't know. That, that could have different impact on different people. Right. That, that was one of my first realizations shortly after retirement when somebody asked me what did I do, and I stuttered for a while, and I said, "I don't do anything." And it hit me- You live yeah, well, that's not, that wasn't my first response. It was like, "I don't know what I, I don't do... I'm retired." Uh, so I certainly, I mean, I think many of us do go through that phase because we s- we've spent the last 40 years so far, many of us, in the workplace defining who we were by what we did, and now we're not doing anything. Well, we're doing things, but we're doing different things. We're doing different things. We're not, they, they, it doesn't have a title. It doesn't, doesn't have a title. Doesn't have a title. We're... And, and what the heck is wrong with saying, "I'm retired"? That retirement is, is a verb. Well, but- That's why ... but at that stage we weren't there. Now we have, we say, well, actually, we have shirts that say, "I'm retired." No, we don't. But that's a good idea. Yes, because it's, it, we- We can get those shirts made up ... I'm happy to be retired. Absolutely, because retirement does give you a certain set of freedoms that you don't have when you're working. So- But- The- Oh, I'm sorry. No, go ahead. No, so it's also in this Go Go Year, we're going through all of these emotional stages, 'cause it takes time to get used to being retired. So you go through this disenchantment where, you know, you wake up and you say, "Okay, what do I do? Who am I?" All of that good stuff and, and sometimes you may even miss work, and by work I mean, you know, the people that you worked with, you know, the activities that you had going out after work for a drink or having lunch with people. Um, you might miss that. But then, of course- You begin to readjust and reorient yourself, and you now you're, you're getting used to, um, being that retiree and defining for yourself what that means for you. S- and now we enter the next phase, which we call slow go. Usually 70s to 80s. S- this picks up as Hope just described. You have reorient- reoriented yourself to a different pace. You've gotten your activity. You realize that you're not gonna read every book on the shelf, that you're not gonna redo the closets again, and then all those things that you initially thought you were gonna do. Some of them you may have done. Many of them you probably have not done, at least we have not done. They're still on the list, but we haven't done them yet. But you develop a routine, and this is what they mean by slow go. You go at your own pace. There's no rush. You don't have to get everything done. If you're planning trips, they don't all have to be taken this year. You could take them a- usually we like to take our trips when the kids are in school so we don't have to deal with it. You've found your own comfort zone, when to go shopping, when to- Right. I mean, I never shop on weekends ... never go shopping on weekends, and we usually try to st- go out after 10:00 and before 3:00 because the school buses- During, during school times. Yes ... yeah, during the school, because we don't wanna be traveling when the school buses are out. So these, and these... I, I know it may sound strange to some of you folks who haven't retired, but live long enough, you'll find out what we're talking about Hopefully. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it ... the retirees know what we're talking about. Yeah, and, and, you know, and as Harold said initially, you know, there are these categories, but they overlap- Of course, of course ... um, because certainly there's still go-go parts during the slow go parts, and sometimes during the slow go parts there are the no go parts. I mean, yeah, yeah, because we know people who as soon as after they retired, they were into the slow go. There was no go go. Yeah, they didn't, just didn't do- They didn't do anything ... anything. They just retired- And ... and they st- And that's what, that's what they do. They didn't volunteer anywhere. They didn't, you know, join any kind of groups. Right. They didn't do particularly a lot of travel. Uh, Harold and I haven't done enough travel. And, um- Well, we slow... We are so slow go, it even takes us slow to, to, to figure out where we wanna go ... yeah, it's, it's just making the decisions- Yeah ... about where to go and how to go. It, it- It's a, it's a pain sometimes, but who... I'm, I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining Right, right. When you, y- you know, one of the things, and I'm sure some other people could, could vouch for this, when you're not pressed for time, I mean, uh, uh, uh, we don't have to con- uh, adhere to a particular schedule. So if we don't do it this month, oh, we could do it next month. Oh, maybe we could do it next month. Unfortunately, next month har- rarely comes. Right. And, and if I had any advice to give to anyone, take advantage of those go-go years because you're usually, and this isn't true for everyone, but you're usually in better physical shape, you know, um, y- medically. And Harold said this morning when we were talking about, you know, during the go-go years, you plan a trip and oh yeah, you, you're going to Greece, and I've, we've never been to Greece, but I hear there's a lot of walking and, and not flat walking. So that's almost a no-go for me after, you know, knee surgery and hip surgery. But maybe if, if I had done it, you know, 10 years ago, I would've been able to do that. So take advantage of the, the go-go years if, if that's what you wanna do, because things do change. A- and th- this slow-go period, it differs for all of us, of course, but one of the things that many of us will discover is that even though you haven't totally slowed down, you recognize that, well, if I do this today, I might feel it tomorrow. So you, so that, that dance that you, you know, that little dance that you do normally for a celebratory- At, at the wedding or- Or- ... at the birthday party ... right. You know, you'll say, "Whoa, boy, I think this might, I might pay for this tomorrow," or maybe a hot, hot tub or a hot bath is gonna be in store for me tomorrow. So these slow-go years, as they taper down, they move to the next phase of retirement. The no-go years. Now, we don't know that many people who are in the no-go years. A- as, as I said earlier, these, you know, these things don't have solid boundaries, you know, these stages, um, because they overlap. They overlap. Certainly we know people who are- age by age, you know, in the, deep into their 80s and even 90s who are still not in no-go years The no-go years Yeah. They, they're in good enough- The slow-go. They're in the slow-go They're, they're still s- s- Yes ... in the slow-go years. They, um, you know, they're still in relatively good health. They still like to be active and engaged with other people and doing things, and, and maybe the reason they're there, and, you know, we, we covered this in another podcast about staying socially engaged and active, because when you do that, your later years are better. You live longer with social interaction. So maybe that's why they're in the n- ah, no-go age, but they're still in slow-go territory One of the characteristics of the no-go stage of retirement is obviously mobility issues. Many of those in this phase of retirement have mobility issues that weigh on all of the decisions. Where do I go for vacation, if I go on vacation? Can I attend that concert? What kind of facilities are at the concert? How far do I have to park away from the theater before, you know, I can't get there? Do I need, do I have to give up my car? Can I still drive? Do I need to get some sort of public transportation options? These, these are all the, the, the decisions that usually those in this no-go stage of their retirement have to consider. And, and also, there are financial considerations. Now, at every stage there are financial considerations, and, and based upon how well you've planned and how well your plans went before you retired ha- have a big impact on that. Of course, some people have a lot of resources, so they don't have as many financial worries. Um, but then there are others who, who yes, you know, when they retired, you know, they retired comfortably, but in those go-go years, they also define the go-go years saying y- because you're, you're being very active, that a lot of times you spend more than you did when you were, when you were working, 'cause maybe you're traveling more and taking advantage of a whole lot of different opportunities. So now, in your slow-go and now no-go years, you're saying, "Oh, wait a minute now. W- hey, I'm 87 and I'm in pretty good health, and I have this much money left. Am I gonna... How long, how long am I gonna live, and am I gonna have enough money to get me through those years without having to become dependent upon someone?" So you might just slow down because of that. And Harold said, you know, medical stuff. Harold already complains that, you know, how many doctor visits you have to have. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's... I mean, I know that most of you know exactly what I'm talking about when, when we break, b- bring up the issue of doctor visits. There is not a week- in the month where I don't have some kind of visit, some kind of ist, either a specialist, a, a cardiologist, a oph- ophthalmologist, a podiatrist. A, not pod- podiatrist, you know? It's- A podiatrist? A pod- no. No. But- You know how to potty ... but yes, a podiatr- there's always some trist in the, in the, the weeks. Well, this month has been particularly active- Yeah, so- Because, you know, these things, a lot of times you have annual visits or biannual visits or whatever, so they all kinda group up in a certain time period. And, you know, and, and we know people who might have multiple doctor visits in the same week. But thankfully, we can go to the doctor. Yes, yes. Okay? And, and our hope is that we will all reach, you know, the stage of, you know, go through these stages, be, have the opportunity to go through these stages You know, until we at the definite no-go. Right, right, right. Well, we wanna push off, that's our, our objective, to push off the no-go until as long as possible. Right, as long as possible. And, and I think that that's really at the core of this podcast. These, these numbers, these ages are just numbers. Really, they are. Because you could be 70, 80, 90, and still being go-go. You might just not go as fast. Right, and people are living longer. How many times have you seen these stories on the news or online about people past 100 who are still active and engaged and doing things? Now, they're not doing what they did at 60, but, but really, I mean, they're just remarkable examples of what life can be about. And, you know, as Harold said, this is all about you still have time. Exactly. Live while you're living. That's exactly, that's why we started this podcast, and that's why we s- talk about this, we attempt to talk about these subjects on every episode. Because you might be 75, but you still can do, you can do something. Right. You know, you guys, when you go to the gym, don't be upset because you can't lift the weight that you did 50 years ago. But you could do something. You, if you can- You can lift the weight that you can lift now. You could lift, yes. You have to put that ego down and just do what you can. And if you can't lift the weight, just do a pushup, do a sit-up, do something. Yeah, and ladies, um, look, none of our bodies look the same as they did 50 years ago. Um, and, but we can still go to the a- aqua aerobics class and, you know, 'cause all of the people in the aqua aerobics class, their bodies look older too, 'cause I, I haven't seen anybody under the age of 60 in the one that I go to. So I feel very comfortable there. Um, but you know, just be kind to yourself. Do live, live, live while you are living. You know, whatever age you are, it's a privilege denied to many because there are so many people who, who passed away before they reach whatever age you're at now. So enjoy your life while you're here. We encourage you to follow our podcast, subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can drop us a line at youstillhavetimepodcast@gmail.com. You could leave us a short voicemail message at speakpipe.com. The link is in the show notes. What else? Oh, yes. If you have any ideas for future episodes, please share them with us and, and, and do drop us a note or, or leave a voicemail. We really want to know what you think about this podcast. I mean, critical thinking here. Critical responses, that's what I'm looking for. Right. Yeah. Not critical thinking. A- Critical responses. And, and we really want your input because as I said, it's, it takes, even though we, we laugh and joke a- on this podcast, it takes a lot to come up with topics that we think you would be interested in. As I've said on earlier episodes, I listen to a lot of podcasts, but very few of them talk about the issues that we talk about because quite frankly, not that many podcasters are like us. We- Right, or, or interested in, in appealing to our age group. Right. So they don't talk about the kinds of things that may be more of interest to us than, than others. And that's not to say you're not interested in politics or, or- Right. Well, but there's plenty of politic, political podcasts. There's plenty of those on there. Right. Right. So anyway, we hope you've enjoyed this episode and, um, I'll, I'll just say that our next episode is a special one. We don't know what it's gonna be about- Yeah but we know it's special. Right. That's because we don't know what it's gonna be about. But anyway, what do we always say, Hope? Oh, um, what do we always say? I'm old, I forget. Uh, oh, you still have time. That's what we always say. C- you would think we would remember that given that that's the title of our podcast, but see you soon. You still have time to remember. Take care. See you soon.