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Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

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Re: Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

#81

Post by clentaminator »

Retra wrote: post #23
ams6110 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if everyone is this way, but at 50 I am losing a little of the starry-eyed excitement. I've seen a lot of the same ideas come around again and again as a new great thing. And yet the pace of change is so fast, if you try to stay current you feel like you never really become an expert in anything. You get jaded. If and when I "retire" I would not see myself not working, but I do think I might do somthing…

There are a lot of unsolved problems in the world, and computers are a great place to explore their potential solutions. I don't really understand this "same ideas come around again and again", because maybe that means you're not properly keeping up with the state of the art. Maybe you should broaden your horizons?

A lot of the "unsolved problems in the world" are either problems that more technology won't solve, or aren't things that can be solved easily by current technology. They are social and human problems, which essentially boil down to "how" we live.

I think that poster's point about the same ideas coming round again and again was that in some areas of technology "keeping up with the state of the art" is just a case of re-learning how to do something that you already understand and know how to do, but in a way that is now structured differently. Broadening your horizons can (in some cases) end up in you seeing the underlying same-ness in a lot of things.

Re: Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

#82

Post by distances »

chubot wrote: post #34
andyjdavis wrote: post #33

>“You go from working 50, 60, 70 hours a week to zero,” Moen says. “And it very much affects your identity. Who am I? For men, the answer usually is their job.” I feel like this is a problem our whole life however it is only once we retire that we are forced to confront it. Until then we are able to avoid dealing with a lack of fulfilling activities outside of work, limited social connections and a weak sense of iden…

I think this is why it's good to work for an employer who supports open source. You don't want the entire value of your work and your social connections to be abruptly cut off once you leave the company. I saw this happen to both my parents. My dad was forced to retire at 53 and the value of his work was locked up inside that company (he worked there for over 20 years, so your skills develop in a bubble). For the las…

> your social connections to be abruptly cut off once you leave the company.

I work for a company that fosters a community of our company alumni. Mostly by having a side chat alongside the main company chats, and arranging alumni meetings every now and then. So nothing that big really.

But it does help I think -- some people decide to come back later, there are perhaps new business opportunities for the company, you get to keep in touch with old colleagues. I think it's a very good thing to have.

Re: Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

#83

Post by chadcmulligan »

most people work hard for many hours a week, give up lots of stuff, so they can retire. The trouble is doing this means you give up having a life, and so when you retire you have nothing else. What's even worse is if you do this, then your health suffers. I don't know how many people i've known who do this and then get really angry that they're retired but don't have the health to do the things they always waited for.

Me I work a reasonable number of hours have holidays and breaks, I'm middle aged. I'm not planning to retire, in many ways I sort of am. I do the work I like, have people around me I want to keep. Look after my health, know what my kids are doing. I'm lucky that I can do the work I like, and get paid for it, but I've made choices to avoid the soul sucking super highly paid stuff. I'm pleased with my choices, I'd recommend them to anyone younger.

Saying this, there are times I've worked hard, and times I've had in between. Just working then retiring, then dying sucks imho

Re: Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

#84

Post by pbhjpbhj »

amelius wrote: post #80

> Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health This title strikes me as overly sexist.

In your experience do you find retiring women equally struggling to adjust?

In part in the UK it may be that men have to work until later in life but it appears to me that men struggle much more than women with old-age retirement. That's based on observations of my parents and their group of friends, a disproportionate number of whom were teachers.

Re: Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

#86

Post by jventura »

cko wrote: post #79
tajen wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recognize I'm in this situation, but I have no idea what one could do to make a life meaningful, outside of good work or raising great kids, hopefully with a loving partner. I have already tried many things: Living in 3 other countries for 4 years in total (but I was missing family and friends support), being self-employed (I do B2B software like P.McKenzie), learning to dance (3 times, but I feel crap at it), musi…

I'm like you, but I'm 30 and don't want a family or kids. And travel sounds incredibly boring. I've been investing 90% of my income the past five years. When the article or any coworker says "enjoy your hard earned money" it makes no sense to me. What does spending money have to do with happiness? And yet, more money is all I want. If you gave me a billion dollars tomorrow my first thought would be "how do I turn tha…

There are some studies out there (too lazy now to go search for any) that mentions that money is related to hapiness up to a point that it can get you out of poverty and make you stop thinking about it.. Then, the relation is mostly none.

Seriously, what would you do with those 2 billion?

Re: Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

#87

Post by jventura »

saiya-jin wrote: post #68
tajen wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recognize I'm in this situation, but I have no idea what one could do to make a life meaningful, outside of good work or raising great kids, hopefully with a loving partner. I have already tried many things: Living in 3 other countries for 4 years in total (but I was missing family and friends support), being self-employed (I do B2B software like P.McKenzie), learning to dance (3 times, but I feel crap at it), musi…

one advice - take a backpack, turn off your phone and go around india for couple of months, low key, low budget. either himalaya, or south, or anything in between (varanasi can be a powerful experience). it changed my life for better, much better, and so did for many more people. It doesn't have to be india per se, but it's the most exotic place to western culture out there and supremely huge. if you look for some en…

It's a good advice, but not everyone needs to run away from something. Sometimes we just have to face ourselves and do a deep introspection on our lives.. I, for myself, find it really hard sometimes to know how I should run my life, or what are my goals. Maybe sometimes there isn't any need to have goals, or maybe my goal is to accomplish every goal so that I empty my goal bucket..

Whatever, I think each one of us are mostly giving bad advices to each other, and the truth is that almost no one knows with certainty what we're doing with our lifes. We just go with the tide, turning left or right when things seems to match what we think we want..

Re: Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

#88

Post by brightball »

jventura wrote: post #86
cko wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm like you, but I'm 30 and don't want a family or kids. And travel sounds incredibly boring. I've been investing 90% of my income the past five years. When the article or any coworker says "enjoy your hard earned money" it makes no sense to me. What does spending money have to do with happiness? And yet, more money is all I want. If you gave me a billion dollars tomorrow my first thought would be "how do I turn tha…

There are some studies out there (too lazy now to go search for any) that mentions that money is related to hapiness up to a point that it can get you out of poverty and make you stop thinking about it.. Then, the relation is mostly none. Seriously, what would you do with those 2 billion?

That pretty much fit my philosophy on money. I always wanted to make enough to not have to worry about it (and I do).

All my bills are on autopay and generally speaking the only money I think about is just in terms of long term budgeting.

Doesn't eat up mindshare.

Re: Why Continuing to Work Is Good for a Man’s Health

#89

Post by greyman »

tajen wrote: post #62
andyjdavis wrote: post #33

>“You go from working 50, 60, 70 hours a week to zero,” Moen says. “And it very much affects your identity. Who am I? For men, the answer usually is their job.” I feel like this is a problem our whole life however it is only once we retire that we are forced to confront it. Until then we are able to avoid dealing with a lack of fulfilling activities outside of work, limited social connections and a weak sense of iden…

I recognize I'm in this situation, but I have no idea what one could do to make a life meaningful, outside of good work or raising great kids, hopefully with a loving partner. I have already tried many things: Living in 3 other countries for 4 years in total (but I was missing family and friends support), being self-employed (I do B2B software like P.McKenzie), learning to dance (3 times, but I feel crap at it), musi…

> I have no idea what one could do to make a life meaningful, outside of good work or raising great kids

But isn't that meaningful enough? Having one's own kids is great and very fullfiling, and having good work can be as well (although not as much as having kids, imho).

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