WEBVTT

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I had to retire at 55. I mean, I'd always planned

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to retire early. And age 55 was my backstop,

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really. I didn't want to leave it any later than

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that. For years, I've had this rational fear

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that I would drift without making any decisions

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and then find myself stuck to an office chair

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at age 60 with 25 days holiday a year and then

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have a stroke and see all my retirement ambitions

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dissolve into... managing a serious health condition.

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Now I say that's an irrational fear but actually

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it's not that uncommon and as you only get one

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life it wasn't a risk I was prepared to take

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really. Now I do have a tendency to overwork,

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burn out and then make myself ill and I've done

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this all over my working life so I knew that

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my retirement plans had to be solid. If they

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weren't... then I'd risk my own mental health

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and I don't really operate well when I lose my

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structure or routine. I get bored easily and

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that can lead to downward spirals for me. So

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retirement had to be well planned. And what I'm

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going to do now is I'm going to run through you

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a summary of the plans I put together prior to

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handling my notice of work. And some of the activities

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I'd planned to help me stay physically and mentally

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active in retirement. So 10 years ago, we got

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Pink, our Hungarian Vizsla. We chose an active

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breed that required a lot of off -lead time.

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Now, if you get yourself a Vizsla and you aren't

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prepared to take it on, extensive walks at least

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twice a day then be prepared to have all your

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fairness are due to pieces this was deliberate

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for us tracy and i love walking um this would

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give us a reason and a necessity really to do

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it every single day i think it's a bit older

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now uh but she still keeps us both pretty active

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and walking is one of those low impact and exercise

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that's excellent for cardiovascular health as

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well as The fact that we meet so many other dog

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walkers that we stop and have a chat too, so

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it's a social element too as well. Swimming was

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next on our list and we try to get to our local

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pool regularly. It's gentle on the joints and

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it gives you a pretty good full body workout.

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Many community centres offer these kind of swim

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programmes as well and they're not particularly

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expensive to access. yoga pilates tai chi that

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kind of thing now i stopped my martial arts classes

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about 10 years ago as they were a bit physical

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they became a bit difficult for me to be honest

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but i've since began begin to go to tai chi classes

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and i find the mind body exercise improved my

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flexibility my balance strength and they also

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reduce stress and i think some mental calmness

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as well Now, Tracy prefers yoga, and I see her

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go to that every weekend. I see how good it is

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for her. She absolutely loves it. Now, dancing

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is a weird one. So from age 20 to 50, I don't

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think I ever got up on a dance floor other than

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the first dance at our wedding, really. So now

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when I go to family parties, I try and make it

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a must to get up and have a dance. And this is

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not so much about keeping fit. It's more about...

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that change in mindset and attitude and i'm trying

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to be less self -conscious and more sociable

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really um now cycling was on my list and it does

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remain an ambition rather than a reality for

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me i just cannot find a seat that works for me

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um i really do find cycling uncomfortable so

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that's not uh there yeah but strength yeah strength's

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a good one strength training is really really

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important um What I did is I bought a 6K exercise

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ball, one of these rubber balls. I sit in the

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corner of the room and whenever I pass it, I

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try and pick it up over my head and slam it on

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the floor a few times, which is good for the

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mood, but it's also good for core strength and

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balance and bone density as well, which is really

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important when you get a bit older. Now, the

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one that was a real big surprise for me, I had

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on my list all the time, was gardening. Now,

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gardening has become my favorite exercise, which

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is strange, actually, because before I retired,

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I absolutely hated gardening. Now, what I realized

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is what I hated was gardening flowers, but I

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actually love gardening veg. So I've now got

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some potatoes, some beetroots, some tomatoes,

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et cetera, on the go, and I'm loving that. A

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garden combines physical activity with time spent

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outdoors. And as you can see from the background

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there, you've got some lovely surroundings. So

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it benefits both body and mind. So that's me

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keeping physically fit. Now, what about mental

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activities? So my local music venue is great

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where I live here. It's in Birkenhead, and they

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offer courses in sound engineering completely

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free. So I've signed up for that. It's always

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been a passion of mine, sound engineering. Taking

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up new subjects, such as online courses and local

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classes, workshops, that kind of thing, or learning

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a new language. These stimulate the brain and

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help keep us sharp as we get a bit older. I think

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that's really important as well. Now, also on

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my list was reading and writing. Now, regular

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reading, maybe... keeping a channel or doing

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some creative writing does engage your mind and

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improve your concentration as well. And I think

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what I do is probably a bit obvious here. I really

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enjoy making content for this YouTube channel

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and it helps me keep my mind active. I mean,

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as you can see from the style of this video,

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I don't put a lot of effort into the production.

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What I tend to do is sit and think. where I am

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with my retirement, make a couple of notes and

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then switch the camera on and basically start

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talking. But I really, really enjoy doing it

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and it does keep my mind active and keep me engaged.

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So the next one then is puzzles and brain games.

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These are really important. Crosswords, Sudoku,

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chess, and kind of brain challenges. But the

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ones... I particularly like, and this will be

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the same for everyone, but what I like is I like

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doing online strategy games on my phone in particular.

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I just feel it gives you that kind of breakaway,

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that kind of inward time to really enjoy doing.

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But creative hobbies are really important as

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well. So activities like painting and drawing,

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photography, music, crafting, these really do

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encourage creative expression. They also keep

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the cogs turning in your brain, don't they? Now,

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I've started to play more music. I mean, I've

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always played saxophone all my life. I've never

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really been particularly competent at playing

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guitar. So I've set up a guitar club with some

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friends and none of us are very good. But I think

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that makes it more fun, to be honest, the fact

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that we're all kind of learning together. And

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the other thing that was always on my list was

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volunteering and social clubs. volunteering and

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joining book clubs or discussion groups, that

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kind of stuff. It fosters that kind of social

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connection and intellectual stimulation, really.

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Now, there wasn't really the perfect club that

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suited me locally that I could find. So what

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I've done, I've gone and set up my own. Again,

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it's related to music, which is my hobby of choice

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and also linked to sound engineering. What I've

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done is I've set up a not -for -profit record

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label. And I'm actually applying for some money

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from the National Lottery Social Fund to help

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organise some community events around it. I'll

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let you know how I'll get on that. I do actually

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have another YouTube channel on there if you're

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interested in that kind of stuff. If you look

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for at Needle Jump Records, you'll see me on

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there doing that. So that covers mind, body,

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but what about soul? Now, a group of my friends

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have a WhatsApp. group called gigs and whenever

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somebody spots something interesting that's going

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on locally what they do they post it up on the

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group and as many of us who can make it go and

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i tend to attend most of them to be honest as

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i really do love live music also tracy and i

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tend to do city breaks and when we do we link

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these to either some cultural or historic interest

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we both share. But then we also link it up to

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a local concert that's going on in that city,

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which always makes it more fun as well. Exploring

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new places or attending cultural events like

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theatres and galleries and concerts, these do

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keep life interesting and stimulating as well.

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So, as you can probably hear, I'm absolutely

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loving my retirement. definitely is the best

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decisions I ever made really and what I realized

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here is I haven't really talked about you know

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the financial aspect of retirement planning but

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I do a lot of that on this channel so if that's

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something you're interested keep tuned in