Hello and welcome to my podcast, The Wellness Project with Des. On today’s podcast episode, I speak with Wendy Leggett about the non-financial side of retiring that often gets overlooked.
I’m Desiree, a Mental Health Therapist and Holistic Wellness Coach, passionate about helping you to improve your mental health and live a healthy and fulfilled life. One way I do this is by interviewing experts in the field of mental health and wellness as well as those that share their first-hand accounts with their mental health journeys. In this episode, we will hear from Wendy about the non-financial aspects of retiring to consider.
In her coaching practice, Wendy Leggett was surprised to come across many clients that were struggling during the transition into retirement. She came to realize that when planning for retirement, many people focused on the financial aspect of retiring and often overlooked the non-financial aspects of retirement. That’s when she founded Conflux Retirement Coaching, where she supports soon to be retirees in non-financial retirement life planning. Through her coaching, she guides clients through a fulfilling retirement transition, focusing on well-being, identity, feelings of purpose, connectedness, and positive aging.
Wendy has this to say about retirement: “No matter our age or life stage, retirement is a concept that is either in the forefront or the background of our lives. Most of us will retire at some point, but the essentials for a fulfilling retirement are generally overlooked. Many messages, often conflicting, tell us retirement will be one of two things: leisure, travel, stress-free living or loss, aging, and one foot into the grave. Also, most of the focus is on having your financial house in order, and the rest will fall into place, but we bring our whole selves through that front door.”
During retirement, retirees can experience loss of connection, loss of identity, loneliness, loss of purpose, and even depression. Wendy stresses the importance of understanding that transitions are powerful and retirement is a major transition. She explains that a lot happens internally during a transition and she shares the 3 stages of retirement transition retirees go through.
There is a lot more to consider when planning retirement than the financial piece. Listen to this conversation to learn how you can make the most of your retirement.