Avoiding the Blues in the Season of Red and Green

By Nicole Jovel, guest blogger

Ann Burnside Love’s Top 10 list to help seniors beat the winter blues

It’s wintertime and though some might call it “the most wonderful time of the year,” many seniors experience some level of winter blues. Fewer hours of sunshine, longer hours of darkness, and the potential for snow and ice can leave people in hibernation mode. When you find yourself more lethargic than usual or experience a general drop in mood, turn to Ann’s list of tips for beating the winter blues:

Budgeting Your Time (and Energy) for the Holidays

By Nicole Jovel, guest blogger

“My head could just buzz with all the things I’d like to do for my family,” said Ann Burnside Love as she thought about the upcoming holiday season. But Ann, founder and chair of Love & Company and resident of a suburban Maryland retirement community, has a plan. “Holidays require lead time and pacing,” she said. Her plan is to think ahead, review her calendar, and pencil in down time to counterbalance the hustle and bustle of the season. “I occasionally have ‘crash days’ where I don’t get dressed, catch up on the newspaper and listen to music all day. I might read a book with my feet up and order in the wonderful food they have on hand in my community so I don’t have to go anywhere,” Ann said.

Mythbusting: “CCRCs are filled with old people who are sick and dying.”

This is our final post covering Age Wave’s Five Myths & Realities of Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). This myth is a bit more somber than some of the others, but it is equally important to talk about. The myth is “CCRCs are filled with old people who are sick and dying.”

The simple answer is that there is no simple answer. There are people of every health stage in any community, whether it is a neighborhood, a town, a CCRC, a city, or a state. However, when you live in a senior living or continuing care retirement community, there are opportunities and options for people who need more care, whether on a short-term or a long-term basis. Many communities offer assisted living services and higher levels of care, including skilled nursing services and memory care. Many residents, however, live in the “independent living” areas of the community, and are still extremely active like me.

Myth-Busting: “My current home is the best option to continue an active social life and to stay connected with friends in the years ahead.”

Did you know that just like eating your vegetables and getting exercise, maintaining friendships is one of the primary ways to continue living an active, healthy lifestyle? It’s true! In an article about the health benefits of friendship, the Cleveland Clinic notes that friendships have been found to increase longevity, delay memory loss and reduce stress.

But we already felt that in our bones, didn’t we? Since having an active social life is so important as we age, we must consider our social lives as a factor when deciding where we will spend our retirement years — even if socializing doesn’t come easily.

Myth-Busting: "My current home is the best place to live in my retirement years"

“My current home is the best place to live in my retirement years.”

How many of you have thought that’s true? How many of you are sure there is no better option for you than remaining in the home where you’ve spent decades living? After all, this is where you raised your children, hosted parties for friends and family, celebrated holidays, planted your annual gardens and stored decades of fond memories. Often, when looking back, our minds gloss over the negatives, choosing to remember the happy times and moments.

If you are still living in this home, you have to consider that it is also where you had to pay holiday rates to a plumber because your son wanted to see if his toy car would flush down the toilet. It’s where you had to pay to have the leaking roof repaired just after you paid for your daughter’s first year of college. It’s where you had to shovel 18 inches of snow to be able to get to a doctor’s appointment, where you had to pay to have the fence repaired, the swimming pool liner replaced, and let’s not forget that you still have to make dinner, put away the leftovers and clean the kitchen every night.

With all that considered, your home—as chock full of good times as it has been—may not be the best home to spend your retirement years.

Living Close and Staying Involved in Family Events

By Ann Burnside Love

My family is big in the birthday celebration department, and this month is especially busy with six in two generations. This means I’m not deficient in cake consumption, because my chosen retirement community is within convenient reach of the families involved. Plus, there was a truly delightful surprise addition when my first great-grandchild was recently born, thus becoming a member of this distinguished (fun) group of winter birthday celebrants.

Many of the residents in my retirement community also attend family and local events as I do. We have friends and colleagues nearby we also see regularly.

So I asked a few what they value about living close to family. These are some of their answers: