I began to age as soon as I retired

By Aarav Gagan

I can tell you exactly when age caught up with me – it was the day I retired two years back.

I had been fit all along my life. I had followed a regularly lifestyle and was known to be a bit of a fitness freak who used to regularly cycle in Lutyen’s Delhi where I had served for years as a bureaucrat.

Then, I decided to shift to Patna where I had built our retirement home. The shifting took place within three months of my retirement.

It was only after reaching Patna did I realise that life was no longer the same. I was distressed, without much work to do. I had been a busy man as a mid-level bureaucrat.

I had a regular pension; my wife and children were hale and hearty and we were staying in our home which had been built according to my specifications. Yet, things were not the same.

The first casualty was my morning walk as I no longer felt like stepping out. Then, I began to avoid going to the market to get stuff for our daily requirements. Even meeting some old friends began to look like a chore.

Within six months, the health alarm went off as I was diagnosed with high diabetes. This came as a shock to me as I had been more or less fit during my entire working life.

The doctor had a lengthy conversation with me and encouraged me to immediately change my lifestyle. He also prescribed me medicines to bring down my sugar level.

On my wife’s insistence, I started going out for walk again. But, that was not enough. The retired life was taking its toll.

A few months later, we met our relatives at a wedding and they all remarked that I was looking pale and sallow. In fact, they were quite worried about my poor health.

My wife told them that this changed she had noticed in me after retirement. She was quite clear that I was suffering from post-retirement blues and I needed to get back into shape by following a healthy life style.

When our daughter came to visit us from the US, she was completely taken aback and grew quite alarmed on meeting me.

My daughter now began to accompany me on my morning and evening walks and she informed my wife that she too should accompany me whenever I stepped out.

The few days that she spent with us helped me turn around my health. I would talk to her and we would have long conversations about life. My daughter was happily settled in the US and she insisted that we shift to the US with her.

Those conversations with my daughter – in which my wife too joined in enthusiastically – enabled me to get a grip on my retired life.

After my return from the US, I began to seriously take care of myself. I would go for morning and evening walks. I even joined a gym where the trainer was patient enough to prescribe light exercises. Within three months, I was feeling much better about myself. I was not thinking too much about my retired life.

I and my wife started to look forward to visiting the US for a period of six months. It cheered me up. I was happy that my happy and daughter were both happy.

The good news came unexpectedly when a visit to the doctor revealed that my sugar level was very much under control. I was ecstatic.

Even though my retirement had struck me badly, it took me a little over a year in which my wife and daughter played a major role to get me back into shape.

I now intend to stay fit – even on those days when I sometimes feel low.

Read: When the wish to live is gone