The Essential Outlet 

Turning What You Love into What You Do
By Patrick O’Connor

An outlet is something we all have that contributes to our overall well-being. It can be physical,  spiritual, psychological or a combination of all three. It’s something that makes us feel better after we do it. It provides relaxation and helps relieve stress and tension. An outlet is often an extension of who you are. It’s part of how you turn what you love into what you do. It fits with a healthy lifestyle like exercise and good diet.

An outlet is important when working full time as it can provide release from the tensions of work. It may be more important in retirement when people have more time on their hands. New retirees often lament a lack of purpose after leaving full-time work. Also, replacing the social connections from work are a challenge for many retirees. An outlet can help someone feel productive and replace a loss of purpose. Many outlets also include socialization, which is viewed  as a healthy way to deal with retirement changes. An outlet can be a solution for millions of retiring Boomers.

Each Road Less Traveled (RLT) subject  had an outlet. It was often an extension of their full-time work, interests and/or talents. Joan Meggitt (vol 17) for example, is a dance instructor who created a movement class for people with Parkinson’s disease. Marilyn Sessions (vol. 11) uses her administrative/marketing skills to organize Grill for Good, which raises money for various causes in Portage County. Bill White (vol. 16), along with his wife Edie, leaned on his years as a bowling center owner to set up scholarships for high school bowlers.

In many respects, an outlet is almost therapeutic, which helps us relax or feel better about things, especially about an unhappy situation. There are all sorts of therapies, including art, plant, animal, exercise and music. One RLT subject, Ann Kent (Vol. 4), has a master’s degree in music therapy and has used it to counsel teenagers through drug rehabilitation.

Categories of outlets
The main attraction of an outlet is the personal benefit it provides each person. These seem to fall into three categories: Physical (body), Psychological (mind) and spiritual (spirit). For example, racquetball players comment how great they feel after “working up a good sweat.” Most people get a peaceful feeling while taking a walk in the woods.  Others feel “renewed” after a yoga session. 

Outlets come in many forms based on someone’s interests, goals and desires. They can be individual, social or both. Some outlets are individualized, such as swimming, jogging, meditation or coloring. Other outlets include more of a social quality such as golf, pickleball, or helping at a church clothing or food drive. There are also outlets that have both individual and collective qualities. A line dance class, singing in a choir or bowling  are good examples. 

A ready-made retirement outlet: service organizations
A ready-made outlet opportunity involves service organizations. Service organizations have been a mainstay in America for hundreds of years, providing “social capital.” Groups like Rotary International, Kiwanis,  Elks, Shriners, Business Professional Women and others have sponsored numerous projects to support their communities. Unfortunately, these groups and others like them have experienced a considerable drop in participation in recent years. For example, the Jaycees have lost 64% membership while Rotary has lost 20% in recent years. Younger people today are interested in supporting causes but seem less interested in a full commitment to a service organization. These groups are changing to engage new members in different causes in different ways. They are changing meeting times and formats, membership requirements and goals to appeal to a younger audience of members. The current generation wants to do things that are fun and social while contributing. Service groups do, too!  

Service organizations have built-in networks, structure, leadership and membership to contribute to activities. They provide a win-win-win situation. The organization gets members, the individual benefits, and those in need are served through the generosity of both. Boomers looking to contribute to the  social capital in their communities need only contact a local service organization. They will find a warm welcome.

Psychic income
There is an abundance of outlet opportunities. It just takes a little effort to get started and the benefits are well worth it. Virtually everyone who does something for someone else testifies they get more out of it than they give. An outlet should give you ”psychic income,” which is the income received from doing things for others without expecting anything in return. It really is better to give than receive.

Each of us has a psychic income account consisting of small deposits from all the things we’ve done for others without expecting anything in return. There is no way to spend this income… all we can do is save it. We are familiar with the popular phrase… you can’t take it with you. Well, we can take our psychic income account with us when the  time comes.