Assessment for Finding Your Best Place to Live

Hello friends, and welcome to Notes from the Road! Glad you're along for the ride. Each week, you'll get news, advice, tools, and inspiration to thrive in your 50s and beyond, whether you're traveling around the world or blazing a trail in your own backyard. In this issue:

• My Right Time, Right Place assessment results

• Leisure in retirement, from What Retirees Want

• Weekly roundup of things worth your time.

• Video of a Lisbon sardine store.

• Wisdom from Taylor Swift.

Let’s get started!

In last week’s newsletter, I shared what I learned about the importance of place as we age. I also learned about a free assessment that helps you take stock of your current place to help you plan for the future. Here are my results:

First, my general observations: The assessment covers the four broad areas that are most important to thriving in a place, so you do get a complete picture. Along with this scorecard, you receive a few words describing the rating element, links to additional resources based upon your results, and suggestions about how to proceed. The assessment takes about five minutes to complete. Painless and straightforward.

Next, my specific observations about my results: My place rated “High” overall and each element except Social Connection, where it rated “Medium.” Broadly speaking, that’s pretty accurate. I live fairly far from all of my close friends and relatives, and this is probably what I like least about my current place. (Hi friends and I miss you👋💖).

Theoretically, I guess my place does, in fact, rate “High.” If I had no other options, and needed to stay here forever, it does generally meet the basic elements in the assessment. It wouldn’t be a tragic mistake for me to stay here if necessary. I wouldn’t be blindsided by something unpleasant.

But would I like it? Probably not. There are other things that I also dislike about my current place that aren’t really reflected in my scores. In fact, I’m hoping to move within the year because of them. ‘

So I also think this assessment is a good broad brush introduction to get you thinking. You probably have a list of things that aren’t directly addressed in this assessment—but are important to you—that you need to factor into your decision-making when you’re looking to make a move. To make a good move, I’d rely on both types of data.

Bite Sized Book Review: What Retirees Want

This week, we look at Chapter 5: The Time Affluence Explosion. In this chapter, the authors break down the relationship that retirees have with free time.

Then there’s the role of leisure, which evolves throughout our lifespans. Earlier in adulthood, it’s constrained by work, children, and caregiving. As retirement starts, it’s viewed as liberating, then it takes on a greater significance as a way to grow and thrive. In late retirement, leisure takes on a more sedate cast, staying close to home, enjoying the familiar, and maintaining health. The authors devote this chapter to discussing what leisure looks like throughout this evolution.

We’re grateful for the time that you spend with us!

The Weekly Roundup

Worth your time to watch, read, and listen.

🎧 Wiser Than Me podcast with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. From Apple Podcasts: …touching, funny, personal conversations with wise, fascinating women who have lived long enough to know a thing or two about a thing or two. Tune in to laugh, cry and just maybe… get wise. Sample guests: Carol Burnett, Fran Leibovitz, Isabel Allende.

🎧 Arthur Brooks on Cracking the Code to Happiness in the Second Half of Life. Are you a Striver? Welp, you’ll probably need to do quite a bit of work to find happiness as you age. This is the basis for Brooks’ book From Strength to Strength, which is a really entertaining and useful read. I LOVE this book! (Speaking as a Striver, that is). 😀 (8 min. read)

📰 Loneliness Isn’t Just Bad for Your Health—It’s Deadly. “Loneliness and social isolation were linked to an increased risk of death from any cause, according to new research.” Let’s get out there, people! 👏👏 (3 min. read)

💡💡We’d love to hear from you! Anything you’d like to see in the Weekly Roundup? Any burning topics you’d like us to write about? Comments, questions, feedback? Let us know. 💡💡

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