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It seems like just yesterday I was graduating from university with a big future ahead of me and then I was at the alter with Francis and wow my second child was born, a home and a mortgage and an exciting career unfolding. Time moves so quickly and with time so does ones lifestyle.
The exhilaration of youthful independence, followed by the responsibilities of family and career, moving home, moving province and so my lifestyle continues to change to suit my circumstances.
This is the rhythm of life filled with laughter and sometimes tears, successes and the important lessons that failure brings. When one is young we seem to make these shifts with relative ease and then all of a sudden we start to lose things, our working life and identity, our health and vitality and maybe close friends and family members. In the beginning life is about accumulation and later its about de-cumulation, the rhythm of life! When we stand back and look at the big picture this is how it should be. However, in my experience transition becomes more difficult as we age.
In retirement, life’s rhythm remains the same, we need to adapt our lifestyle to our life stage. This applies to everything just as it used to when we were young. Our finances, our health, our activities, our relationships, our retirement location and place to stay. One of the mistakes that seniors make in choosing retirement accommodation is scaling down to a solution that is not flexible and from which as age increases and financial assets diminish, they are unable to adapt.
An example is moving into a residential or retirement estate that does not offer support for seniors as they age forcing a relocation when healthcare is needed, but at a time when a physical move is difficult and sometimes traumatic. Planning to match lifestyle to lifestage is the solution in retirement planning, especially with regard to accommodation.
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At Evergreen Lifestyle we coined the phrase “matching lifestyle to lifestage” and we design our retirement villages on this basis. One is able to move into a beautiful home for a lock up and go lifestyle for as long as that suits you, then move to an apartment when the burden of a home and garden becomes too much.
Here you have access to home-based care and much later if required you could move into our world class Care Centres, all at the same location. And there’s more. Because we use the Life Right occupation model these moves can be made seamlessly without the need to sell a home or invest additional capital. At Evergreen we understand ageing and make it easy for you to match your lifestyle to your life stage when it suits you.
Contact Evergreen on www.evergreenlifestyle.co.za or call Sharon on 087 808 7000 if you would like to explore flexible retirement living options and learn about our partnership for life promise.
