We interviewed several retirees, men and women with different life paths, and here is the period they prefer.
For most people interviewed, marriage, the birth of children or professional success are often mentioned as particularly happy and significant events. Indeed, the elderly can sometimes be nostalgic by rethinking at certain highlights of their lives, like Patrice, who regrets the time when he enjoyed vacation with the whole family united, especially his wife, now deceased. For André, 95, the most beautiful period was that of the meeting with Agnès, his wife for 68 years. “”I have always been lonely, my youth was very damaged by the war. The meeting with Agnès enlightened me“He says.
As for Arsène, he regrets the time of his youth, the happiest period of his life. “After my studies, 22 and 25 years old, I traveled all over the world. Three years of meetings and freedom. I had the impression that the world belonged to me, that everything was possible“He recalls.”The early childhood of my children was also a happy period. But I divorced when they were 7 and 9 years old“Explains Arsène, now single despite several love stories. As for retirement, she hardly delights him. “I get bored, it’s hard to find the motivation to move forward. And then I had health problems two years ago, I walk less well”he says.
If, like him, some apprehend the transition to retirement synonymous with aging and sometimes loneliness, the people we interviewed still proved to us that it is also a rich and fruitful period. Time, freedom, less constraints and sometimes, real life changes. Fortunately, being happy and fulfilled after 60 years is quite possible. Agnès and André are today very surrounded by their children, grandchildren, back grandchildren, whom they do not hesitate to go see all over France. “We have always led the life that we wanted to lead. But today it’s different, we really have time, fewer constraints”, Observe Agnès.
Marie-Claire, 81, says today that the best period of her life is the one she currently lives. “”I met my third husband, the man of my life, at 68 years old. An age at which people often think that nothing can happen “confides this great lover who appreciates living at her own pace, getting out when she wants, without the constraints linked to professional life. With her husband, they run the exhibitions, go to the cinema, take advantage of the present. For Marie-Claire, who sees retirement as “An extraordinary period”happiness also comes from past moments with its grandchildren. “They are the retirement sun. Thanks to them, we keep up to date with new products, we continue to learn every day. They keep us in life”, she concludes.
Céline has welcomed retirement with great happiness. “”You can procrastinate at will. There is less pressure, less mental load. Retirement is in a way a long, quiet river“, she jokes. “And then there is also this feeling of having carried out our mission of parents well. Our daughter has a good job, she is independent”, Add this 69 -year -old woman, whose husband was retired much earlier than her. As for life for two, it is not necessarily a long, quiet retired river. If there is less pressure, Céline notes that everyone’s faults are exacerbating as they get older. “PTo be happy, you have to respect the rhythm of the other. It is one of the privileges of age, we let go more easily on what is less important “observes Céline. Finally, Martine, a great enthusiast of travel, found love at the age of 65, after having divorced the father of her children. Retirement is for her a second youth, and she is just returning from a stay in Thailand after visiting New York.
