Retirement Rebel: One woman, one motorhome, one great big adventure

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Camarados puts people in charge of their own solutions through Mutual Aid – helping people who are not necessarily friends to self-organise to support each other through tough times. The main focus right now for the movement is to see communities set up Public Living rooms – a place to go on a tough day or when you’re lonely to help others and get connection and purpose. Last year, Smith’s Bengal cat, Rococo, died at 16, and Smith decided to throw caution to the wind and have the green-eyed tabby tattooed on her forearm to memorialise her feline fellow traveller. She also dyed her long white hair a fetching shade of cerise. “They say you can’t have long hair when you’re older. They say you shouldn’t dress in bright colours and have tattoos, particularly as a civil servant, but I just thought: ‘I’m 63, I’ll do what I want. I’ll wear my hair pink and long and I’ll wear band T-shirts and skinny jeans and great big platform shoes.’”

Approaching retirement and frustrated with her job, Siobhan Daniels made a BIG decision: to start living life on her own terms. There were a lot of laughs over Zoom. I have known the six people on the call since we were all teenagers. There is something special about meeting up with old friends. Lots of women I’ve spoken to have said that they’d love to do what I’m doing, but that they’re too scared,” says Siobhan. “But I was scared too! Don’t be afraid to ask for help – there will be a tribe of people out there who are feeling the same way.”

Life on four wheels

The four steps of D.A.R.E. are Discover, Assimilate, Rewire, and Expand. The method requires you to summon courage to emerge from your comfort zone of retirement to embark on a new journey. It will give you the knowledge, the psychology, the strategy and the tools you need to make positive changes. Here’s what each step entails: Discover what retirement is and what it’s definitely not But from her late 40s onwards, challenges – both personal and professional – began to emerge and Siobhan grew disillusioned. “As I was approaching 50, my daughter went off to university,” says Siobhan. “I’d been a single mum for years, and I started bragging to everyone that it was going to be ‘party time’! But it wasn’t that at all – I was quite miserable.” Like most of us, I’d been led to believe that it was the only option. I’d accepted it as the path I would take, and I didn’t question it. That all changed when I became semi-retired at the age of 52, after being diagnosed with a bone tumour.

A truly great book, a story of not only drug addiction but also the strength of the human spirit, told with humour and honesty. - Dave In this blog, George Jerjian – mindset mentor, coach and author – shares his journey to becoming a ‘Retirement Rebel’ and tells us why his passion and purpose is to inspire people entering retirement to do the same. I literally could not put this book down - it should be read in homes, schools, prisons, rehab facilities, everywhere. - Jonathan Mantle, bestselling writer.

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We can rewire our minds by envisioning. This uses our visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic senses, so as to create a new software program in our minds to replace the old one, and thereby impressing on our minds our new future, our new purpose, our new life. Expand your horizons by manifesting your future now Maff has also worked front line and ran the largest homeless services in the country for The Salvation Army as well as being CEO of award winning organization “People Can” which used asset based methods across homelessness, criminal justice, domestic violence and addiction services.

Say yes to opportunities. You’ll regret the things you did not do much more than the things you do. I spent years worrying what other people thought and now I just want to be loud and take up space and be totally myself,” she says. She sees a similar sentiment in many women in her age group, for whom the confidence of later life is combining with a desire to set boundaries around one’s time and efforts, whether that’s rejecting grandparental childcare or being the go-to event caterer out of a materfamilias sense of duty. “We’re exiting relationships that no longer serve us, we’re saying no to things we don’t want to do; we’re cutting people out of our lives who don’t make us feel good,” she adds. “There’s a new mood and that mood is about grabbing life by the wotsits.” An unconventional retirement wasn’t always on the cards for Siobhan. After working as a nurse for 9 years, in the 1980s she decided to retrain as a journalist after hearing an advert for a trainee reporters’ scheme run by the BBC. This opportunity led to a successful career as a reporter, presenter and producer on various programmes across regional BBC radio and TV.I do some voluntary work with the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK, supporting their social media campaign for 15 minutes a day. I also hope to work with the students in Southampton University. I have just been appointed a Professor of Practice there and I hope to be able to use my experience to inspire the next generation. I followed these steps and now, in my mid-sixties, I can honestly say that I live with more purpose and passion than I thought possible. So, whether you are close to retirement age, or a while off, take time to think about how you plan to live in later life, because, as Cicero said, “Old age is the crown of life, our play’s last act.” Today, she has nine children and stepkids, aged between from 18 and 31, she also has two grandchildren, aged seven and two, and a younger female partner. She is, for her part, very happy to be a punk grandma. But Cutter dislikes it when people tell her they “used to be” a punk. “It’s not about the hair colour and the piercings you once had, it’s about an attitude: thinking for yourself and not accepting authority.” It’s an inward rebellion, Cutter says, that surely applies at any age.

Mental Health Nurse John-Barry Waldron is our guest on this week's Reach Out PodcastJohn-Barry works in a secure hospital, supporting people experiencing mental illness and helping them return home to their communities.He's also capturing the stories of staff and patients through the On The Ward Podcast which you can also get wherever you get your podcasts.Also in the conversation - We discuss access to mental health services, and how stigma still bring issues for patients and their families. A must read message of hope for those suffering with, or affected by, the pain of addiction. - Chris By putting retirement in perspective, and by taking off our rose-tinted spectacles and stopping the delusion that retirement is a wonderful place to be, we can then understand that this is life’s last call to discover and implement our purpose and our legacy, before the final curtain comes down. Assimilate a new understanding of your mindIt’s about an attitude, thinking for yourself and not accepting authority’: Frank Cutter. Photograph: Perou/The Observer One thing I have done for the last few years is to give talks to community groups (mostly Women’s Institute branches) about positive change in the world. With all the bad news we see, it is easy to forget how much safer and healthier we are than in the past and that this trend is still improving. There's a point in this deep and compelling story where Rosen says he felt as if he were observing the conversation he's describing from the third person perspective. And that's how reading this superbly written tome hit me; I felt as if I were in every scene with him, a silent and invisible, yet viscerally present witness to the depths of darkness and depravity of a life of crime and addiction, but also right alongside Rosen as he experiences a sublime spiritual awakening and begins the lifelong journey of accepting, understanding, and loving himself. This is one man's story of adventure, misadventure, suffering, redemption, and ultimately, finding meaning in the sometimes painfully ugly, sometimes divinely beautiful, but always interesting and exciting world which he (and indeed, we) inhabit. I'm looking forward to reading more from this talented, insightful, and wise gentleman. Bravo, Mr. Rosen, BRAVO!!! - Martin Munro - Artist New York By believing and manifesting that we have already received what it is that we want, our mind cannot reject that reality. There’s never been a more important stage in your life to use this power. The future you want is yours for the taking! Using my own experiences, and my research, I created the D.A.R.E. Method, which is the basis of my 8-module online program Dare to Discover Your Purpose . The method was my way of helping people to do what I had done: find out that there is a new path you can take, however close you are to retirement age – and even if you’ve reached it already.