Top 10 Ways to Cope with Transitions

Top 10 Ways to Cope with Transitions from work to retirement or from retirement to work

Transitions can be stressful—whether they’re due to layoff, retirement,  a new job or working extra hours because others workers were laid off. If you’re facing one, consider the following.

1. Take an honest look at yourself. What are your strengths, weaknesses, skills? How did those influence—positively or negatively—your transition?

2. Step up your self-care. Major changes are physically and emotionally taxing. You need self-care now more than ever.

3. Engage your curiosity. What went wrong, or right? What could you have done better? What worked really well?

4. Focus on what you want, and less on what you don’t want. Keep your eye on the prize.

5. Find support. Since your transition affects your family as well, it may be better to seek the outside support of friends or professionals.

6. Work on your thoughts. Calm your fears and reinforce your sense of hope and happiness.

7. Reassure (or avoid) those who are threatened by, or jealous of, the change.

8. Create your own rite of passage. Ceremony and ritual help with all transitions.

9. Let go of how things were “supposed to be” and accept “how things are.” Find appreciation for what is.

10. Keep things in perspective. Or try on a new perspective. Don’t get stuck. Remember, the only constant is change.

Things that make you happy at work

 Things that make people happy at work, posted in payscale  in December 2013

My generation report the highest job stress, but they also have the highest job satisfaction and job meaning. Millennials report the lowest stress levels, but have the lowest levels for job satisfaction and job meaning. So the five things that make for job satisfaction are:

1. A better boss.

Bad managers are the number one reason why people quit their jobs, and no wonder: your boss has a huge influence on your day-to-day life, controlling everything from the money you make to the hours you work. Just ask anyone who's ever worked for a yeller.

2. A flexible schedule.

No surprises, here: working parents, especially mothers, are happier if they can work part-time, have more time with their kids, or otherwise have a schedule that contributes to their work-life balance.

3. Mindfulness.

"Mindfulness practice has been linked to activating parts of the brain correlated with constructs of well-being such as happiness, joy and enhanced self-awareness," writes Judy Martin at Forbes.

Meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace, says that mindfulness can make workers better at their jobs and happier in their personal lives.

4. Exercise.

Working out relieves stress and can improve your overall health, which will make you more productive at work and improve your perception of both your job and your life. You don't necessarily need a gym membership to reap the benefits: even an occasional walk outside can improve your happiness.

5. Better organization.

Getting organized gives you real control over your surroundings, because you'll be able to find what you're looking for whenever you need it. It also might improve the impression your co-workers and boss have of you, which will contribute to making you happier and more successful at work.

Keep Boomers chained to the Grindstone!

Ineresting post from Boomer Death Watch, it was first posted  in 2008, so as we move into the Labour Day weekend I thought it would give us some time to reflect

This piece, from the Calgary Herald, starts its argument on this frightening economic fact, already known to boomer-watchers everywhere:

Proceeding to the assumption that over-65s who keep working live longer (a leap of faith based on a University of Maryland study), it makes simple economic sense to scrap mandatory retirement just so that boomers can keep contributing to the economy, and not looting it by drawing on savings and the CPP until their (medically delayed) demise:

"Mandatory retirement has to go. Boomers tend to be well-educated. In the workforce, they're productive, and with Canada's demographics, losing skilled labour is going to hurt in about 10 years. Finally, it would be doing the next generation a favour. As well as educated, boomers tend to be healthy and will live a long time. Out of the workforce, they'll be expensive to keep."

One problem though. Many of us poor Xers have been waiting our whole lives for the boomers to retire, so that we can get a shot at the jobs they've been hogging their whole lives, if only for a few years until we retire, bitter and spent from years of nursing our grudges. Calling for an end to mandatory retirement is what will separate the true believers in conservative economic practice ("the economy is paramount; all else follows") from those who are willing to suffer the decade of "losing skilled labour" for a kick at the can. For those people, "doing the next generation a favour" has little appeal - they're the boomers' kids, and they've been squeezing us from the other side for almost as long. So screw 'em.

I hope, at the very least, that this leads to an interesting thread in the comments section.

How to handle the shop snobs

Some people treat waiters and retail staff like scum. But you can do something about it  A wonderful article that reminds all of us that those who work in these areas should be treated with respect. Having worked as  a retail manager for a couple of years before I decided to enter teaching I thought this article was interesting.

Another Flawed study makes news

I am not sure what is going on in the newspaper business but reporting news is being phased out for opinions and non news stories.  This was posted earlier and at first read it sounds as if Facebook users are narcissists or have low self esteem. Yet reading to through the story I found that this was a survey of one hundred people, so the validity and reliability of the study are very low. So a non-study, makes the news. How boring.

A new study of Canadian university students suggests Facebook is a magnet for narcissists and people with low self-esteem.
Participants who were deemed narcissistic, and others shown to have low self-esteem, spent more time on the massively popular social-networking website, the York University research found.
Researcher Soraya Mehdizadeh also found that these people use Facebook as a means of self-promotion.

Mehdizadeh admits the sample group of just 100 participants from such a specific demographic doesn't necessarily reflect everybody who uses Facebook. (my emphasis)

But she expects the findings to prompt the site's users, who number roughly 16 million in Canada, to take a closer look at themselves — and their Facebook "friends."

"I think people get sort of defensive about it, like: 'I don't use my Facebook for that reason' — because it's a label that you don't want to be slapped with," she said Tuesday in an interview.
"I don't know if self-fulfilling prophecy is the word, but it's sort of like you've been believing it at the back of your head . . . and it's like, 'I knew they were a narcissist.' "

The surveys studied the online habits and personalities of 50 female and 50 male Facebook users between the ages of 18 and 25.

Participants, all York students, took psychological tests that measured their sense of self-esteem and assessed their levels of narcissism. Sections of their Facebook pages were also examined.

The study defined narcissism as a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and an exaggerated sense of self-importance.

Self-esteem was identified as a person's overall self-evaluation or their worth.

Students who scored lower on the self-esteem scale, as well as those rated higher on the narcissism test, were correlated with a greater number of Facebook checks per day and more time spent on it.

The surveys were conducted two years ago. The findings, published last month in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, also suggest differences between the men and women who use Facebook.

The women surveyed were more likely to self-promote through a carefully selected main photo that might offer a flashy, doctored or revealing image of their physical appearance.

Male participants promoted themselves more though written postings describing themselves in the "About Me" or "Notes" sections.

"It's really interesting to look at the differences between the online self and the off-line self and to sort of bridge the gap between the two," Mehdizadeh said of the research, part of her undergraduate thesis.

She painted Facebook as an ideal setting for narcissists who can monitor how many "friends" they have.

It can also serve as a "social lubricant" for those with low self-esteem, since it's so easy for them to connect with so many people.

For example, Facebook friends can boost the confidence of someone who doesn't feel good about their physical appearance by posting flattering comments on photos, she added.

"That's obviously something that might help someone deal with their low self-esteem," said Mehdizadeh, who is now preparing for medical school.

"If (Facebook) would improve their self-esteem, what great benefits that would have to the health and well-being of people who use the site."

Facebook said in July that it had 500 million users worldwide, up from the 250 million users it had the year before.
Canada eclipsed the 16-million users mark in May, according to research firm Inside Network.

Does this mean that everyone who spends more than three hours a day on Facebook is narcissistic or has low self-esteem?

"Maybe not," Mehdizadeh says. "But what this study does meaningfully achieve, in my opinion, is a contribution to the already existing literature." As  the author of the study, she would say this, but I think she makes too much of a difference
Still, questions remain in a relatively new area of psychology, she added.

"Is it that narcissists are more likely to use Facebook, or people who use Facebook are more likely to become narcissists?"

Seniors to outnumber children by 2021?

The national statistics agency said seniors would account for between 23 per cent to 25 per cent of the overall population by 2036, nearly double the 13.9 per cent recorded in 2009. As well, the proportion of the population aged 15 to 64 – the traditional work force – would decline from about 70 per cent to 60 per cent.


Big hello, this information is not new, we as a society have known this since the 1960's, David Foot wrote about this in his book "Boom, Bust, Echo".

The issue is that the Baby Boomers rule, and our influence will be felt by society as we age. I suggest that delivery on Pensions and Health Care Reform better be high on the agenda of the political parties or they  will be out in the cold.

Stats Can may be correct that the traditional work force may be reduced, but Boomers will not retire in the numbers that people assume they will. Many of my friends are retired, but are working harder than they did when they were younger. Many are working in a volunteer capacity, many are working at hobbies, many have gone back to work part time and full time.

We, as a group are aware that the government has not done enough to prepare for our aging, and I suspect as the early boomers take stock and the other boomers watch, we will start to demand and get the changes we need to grow and continue to prosper in our Boomer years. Boomers rock the free world!