Living with Leisure For
some
was working with the Oxford Geriatric Principal Psychologist at the Littlemore Hospital
years the author
Unit, and she is
now
available to all, but seldom manage to keep pace with the rising costs. Despite this fact, surveys seldom show financial worries to be the chief In cause of unhappiness in old age. fact, where concern over money is expressed, where goods are hoarded and a person feels himself to be hard done-by, the sufferer is, in more instances than not, found to be comparatively well-off. Those who complain about financial difficulties are usually people who are unhappy for other reasons, some of which may come under the following headings. are
problem of how person is THEspend his time in retirement is a
to
that
is becoming increasingly More people than ever are the retiring age yet ever fewer are looking forward to the years of leisure with joy. The idea and that retirement means peace happiness and a chance to realise dreams or fulfil cherished longstanding wants has long since been exploded. Modern man is coming to realise and accept himself to be a small cog in the machine of progress, unwanted once his job is finished. Certainly past history has provided little encouragement. Stories of frustration, of feelings of worthlessness and sudden death a few months after retirement have been the rule rather than the exception. But is this situation inevitable? Must retirement be the twilight of a fading day and leisure inevitably a time for brooding and regrets? Surely this is not so and could be avoided with a little foreone
Moyra Williams
important. living to
thought.
For a person to enjoy his leisure and profit by it, many things are necessary.
Freedom from want A person must be able to obtain the basic necessities of life and must not be worrying where his next meal is coming from or how he is going to find the money for next week's rent. He must be able to buy fuel for the winter or physical sickness will put an end to all his plans. The wise person will have tried to make financial provision for his retirement during his working days, but this is not always so easily done. ?100 saved in 1940 will buy about half the goods today that the person denied himself to save it. Old age pensions
Settled home To people of all ages, especially Englishmen, a "home of one's own"
is essential for peace of mind. It does not have to be large?a single room will suffice?but it must be a place where a man can wear what he wants to, where a woman can keep what she likes, where people can do what they like when they like and which is in no danger of being taken away from them by a capricious landlord or discontented relative. A recent survey has shown that among older people admitted to psychiatric hospitals for depression, a larger proportion than might be expected have no homes of their own but are living with relatives or friends. Of all the people over 60 who do live alone comparatively few seek or need
hospital
treatment.
TTiere may be several reasons for this. It is possible that the misery of people living alone is simply unknown to the authorities; or it may be that the behaviour of those who live with relatives becomes unbearable to other members of the household. The latter seldom seems to occur. There is a
216
popular idea that the young of today unwilling to care for their ageing relatives and are only too anxious to "have them put away". In the only area where 1 know that this question has been studied carefully namely
machines. Is it not better for him to be a hundred miles away in a new
are
county? These are not the only alternatives. A wise man can start early to cultivate new friendships and social contacts which may be kept up in retirement. He does not have to wait until he has received his last pay packet before he thinks of moving. If he can decide a few years before he makes the move in what area he is going to settle, he can begin cultivating new friendships by sharing in the sports and hobbies of the area during
the Oxford district?this seems to be complete fallacy. The efforts which families make to keep their ageing relatives out of hospital are phenomenal. On the other hand, the sense of insecurity from feeling dependent and unsettled is a frequent cause of depression in older people. a
Reducing physical strain
holidays.
Although an ageing person wants privacy, security and occupation, it does not follow that he will be happy if all his waking hours are spent carrying coal, seeing to household chores or walking to the shops.
Routine We laugh at the man who always sits in the same corner of the railway carriage in the same train every day, the clerk who is lost if his papers are moved a few inches, the housewife who can only do her washing on a Monday! Yet all living organisms thrive on routine, and those who scoff at it have their own routine composed of restless pacing or violent
Retirement in conditions which are going to lay stress on a physique already under strain is not ideal, and to older people, more even than to young ones, "mod. con." and the proximity of shops or regular public
transport
are
important.
movement.
Before deciding to retire to the depths of the country, or to areas which may have been very attractive for short holidays in youth, a person should bear this in mind.
The main advantage of routine is that it enables a number of acts to be performed at an automatic level, so that the mind can be freed for other work. Absence of routine involves increased mental effort being directed towards unimportant acts. It causes slavery rather than freedom, strain rather than relaxation.
Continuity of contacts people who are in solitude, but as one grows older so the ability and tendency to make new friends diminishes. It is harder to start from scratch than it is to keep up friendships that are based on years of shared experience. The person who buys himself a house to which to retire miles from the area where he spent his working years is cutting a vital link. But, it may be asked, is not this quite a good thing? Efficient organisations must often change fast and radically. A man must grieve to see the work-shop where he spent his life replaced by a glass-sided tank and his own labour taken over by There
are
few
really happy living
Routine becomes more important than ever as the physical organism ages, and although a routine for leisure need not be so hectic or stringent as that in working life, it is a to error imagine that the grave removal of all routine will relieve the mind of stress.
Work-goal Actions which are not directed towards the future and towards goals or achievements are sterile. If a person does not have something to live for, he does not live long. But he should be careful to set his goals 217
within the of bounds possible achievement. To aim for the impossible is only frustrating. To strive after the too-difficult is a major cause of anxiety. The elderly person should be prepared to accept goals restricted in time and space, and accept the fact, as he was undoubtedly prepared to do in younger days, that there are some things which it is not even worth striving for. Although I have talked about the problems of leisure as if they only applied to men, this is not necessarily the case. The woman who is earning her living outside the home may face exactly the same problems and will, I
hope, forgive the use of the male pronoun. To sum up and conclude, the person contemplating retirement would be well advised to settle in a place which is not too isolated or inaccessible, but where he can be sure he will be able to do what he wants and from which he cannot be turned out at short notice. Let him also be sure that he has friends in the neighbourhood who share to some extent his interests and aspirations, and finally let him cultivate some goal which he may be able to attain and which will enable him to develop a certain routine of daily living.
some
was working with the Oxford Geriatric Principal Psychologist at the Littlemore Hospital
years the author
Unit, and she is
now
available to all, but seldom manage to keep pace with the rising costs. Despite this fact, surveys seldom show financial worries to be the chief In cause of unhappiness in old age. fact, where concern over money is expressed, where goods are hoarded and a person feels himself to be hard done-by, the sufferer is, in more instances than not, found to be comparatively well-off. Those who complain about financial difficulties are usually people who are unhappy for other reasons, some of which may come under the following headings. are
problem of how person is THEspend his time in retirement is a
to
that
is becoming increasingly More people than ever are the retiring age yet ever fewer are looking forward to the years of leisure with joy. The idea and that retirement means peace happiness and a chance to realise dreams or fulfil cherished longstanding wants has long since been exploded. Modern man is coming to realise and accept himself to be a small cog in the machine of progress, unwanted once his job is finished. Certainly past history has provided little encouragement. Stories of frustration, of feelings of worthlessness and sudden death a few months after retirement have been the rule rather than the exception. But is this situation inevitable? Must retirement be the twilight of a fading day and leisure inevitably a time for brooding and regrets? Surely this is not so and could be avoided with a little foreone
Moyra Williams
important. living to
thought.
For a person to enjoy his leisure and profit by it, many things are necessary.
Freedom from want A person must be able to obtain the basic necessities of life and must not be worrying where his next meal is coming from or how he is going to find the money for next week's rent. He must be able to buy fuel for the winter or physical sickness will put an end to all his plans. The wise person will have tried to make financial provision for his retirement during his working days, but this is not always so easily done. ?100 saved in 1940 will buy about half the goods today that the person denied himself to save it. Old age pensions
Settled home To people of all ages, especially Englishmen, a "home of one's own"
is essential for peace of mind. It does not have to be large?a single room will suffice?but it must be a place where a man can wear what he wants to, where a woman can keep what she likes, where people can do what they like when they like and which is in no danger of being taken away from them by a capricious landlord or discontented relative. A recent survey has shown that among older people admitted to psychiatric hospitals for depression, a larger proportion than might be expected have no homes of their own but are living with relatives or friends. Of all the people over 60 who do live alone comparatively few seek or need
hospital
treatment.
TTiere may be several reasons for this. It is possible that the misery of people living alone is simply unknown to the authorities; or it may be that the behaviour of those who live with relatives becomes unbearable to other members of the household. The latter seldom seems to occur. There is a
216
popular idea that the young of today unwilling to care for their ageing relatives and are only too anxious to "have them put away". In the only area where 1 know that this question has been studied carefully namely
machines. Is it not better for him to be a hundred miles away in a new
are
county? These are not the only alternatives. A wise man can start early to cultivate new friendships and social contacts which may be kept up in retirement. He does not have to wait until he has received his last pay packet before he thinks of moving. If he can decide a few years before he makes the move in what area he is going to settle, he can begin cultivating new friendships by sharing in the sports and hobbies of the area during
the Oxford district?this seems to be complete fallacy. The efforts which families make to keep their ageing relatives out of hospital are phenomenal. On the other hand, the sense of insecurity from feeling dependent and unsettled is a frequent cause of depression in older people. a
Reducing physical strain
holidays.
Although an ageing person wants privacy, security and occupation, it does not follow that he will be happy if all his waking hours are spent carrying coal, seeing to household chores or walking to the shops.
Routine We laugh at the man who always sits in the same corner of the railway carriage in the same train every day, the clerk who is lost if his papers are moved a few inches, the housewife who can only do her washing on a Monday! Yet all living organisms thrive on routine, and those who scoff at it have their own routine composed of restless pacing or violent
Retirement in conditions which are going to lay stress on a physique already under strain is not ideal, and to older people, more even than to young ones, "mod. con." and the proximity of shops or regular public
transport
are
important.
movement.
Before deciding to retire to the depths of the country, or to areas which may have been very attractive for short holidays in youth, a person should bear this in mind.
The main advantage of routine is that it enables a number of acts to be performed at an automatic level, so that the mind can be freed for other work. Absence of routine involves increased mental effort being directed towards unimportant acts. It causes slavery rather than freedom, strain rather than relaxation.
Continuity of contacts people who are in solitude, but as one grows older so the ability and tendency to make new friends diminishes. It is harder to start from scratch than it is to keep up friendships that are based on years of shared experience. The person who buys himself a house to which to retire miles from the area where he spent his working years is cutting a vital link. But, it may be asked, is not this quite a good thing? Efficient organisations must often change fast and radically. A man must grieve to see the work-shop where he spent his life replaced by a glass-sided tank and his own labour taken over by There
are
few
really happy living
Routine becomes more important than ever as the physical organism ages, and although a routine for leisure need not be so hectic or stringent as that in working life, it is a to error imagine that the grave removal of all routine will relieve the mind of stress.
Work-goal Actions which are not directed towards the future and towards goals or achievements are sterile. If a person does not have something to live for, he does not live long. But he should be careful to set his goals 217
within the of bounds possible achievement. To aim for the impossible is only frustrating. To strive after the too-difficult is a major cause of anxiety. The elderly person should be prepared to accept goals restricted in time and space, and accept the fact, as he was undoubtedly prepared to do in younger days, that there are some things which it is not even worth striving for. Although I have talked about the problems of leisure as if they only applied to men, this is not necessarily the case. The woman who is earning her living outside the home may face exactly the same problems and will, I
hope, forgive the use of the male pronoun. To sum up and conclude, the person contemplating retirement would be well advised to settle in a place which is not too isolated or inaccessible, but where he can be sure he will be able to do what he wants and from which he cannot be turned out at short notice. Let him also be sure that he has friends in the neighbourhood who share to some extent his interests and aspirations, and finally let him cultivate some goal which he may be able to attain and which will enable him to develop a certain routine of daily living.
