The recent announcement by the Australian federal government to change the retirement age from the age of 65 to the age of 67 has sparked outrage by many union groups. ACTU national president, Sharon Burrows said that many people would be struggling to work at that age due to illness, aches and pains and suffering from various arthritic conditions.

Like many people, Ms. Burrows seems to think that retiring means stopping and resting and beginning all those sedentary activities that are “befitting of one with advancing years.” I think that is rubbish. I think that all Governments should ban retirement like this and only allow “re-tyrement”.

To me, when you “re-tyre” you put on another set of tyres and keep going in life. You keep participating and contributing in life.

Each Sunday when I go for my early morning run on Mooloolaba beach on the Sunshine Coast I am continually inspired by the scores of “re-tyrees” who are out walking, jogging, swimming and paddling and actively participating in life. They are proof positive that ageing is much a mental process as it is physical. Their approach to ageing is definitely working because according to a recent Australian Bureau of Statistics survey the people living on the Sunshine Coast live longer than in anywhere in Australia.

Surely if you are in that poor shape, retirement isn’t going to be that much fun regardless of whether you are working or not. But the extra couple of years until retirement are only an issue for people who are out of condition.
Rather than complaining about having to work an extra couple of years how about getting into shape so you can handle the extra work with ease?

Ageing is inevitable to all of us but it doesn’t mean that we are doomed to a life of becoming an invalid. The two clear choices you have with ageing are similar to two clear choices you have when you get a new car: you can grow up to be an old “bomb” that can’t go anywhere that can only be used for parts or you can grow up to be a vintage classic that is priceless. It all comes down to how well you look after the car (yourself).

For instance if you had one car and it had to last you all of your life, how would you look after it?

Would you thrash it around, throw poor quality fuel into the tank and then complain because you have to wait so long for your car to get repaired at the mechanics after it is broken down?

Or would you treat the car with respect, put in great quality fuel, get regular preventative maintenance tune-ups to ensure that it keeps running well?

Based upon the answers you gave to those questions; consider that you do have one body that must last you all your life. How well you treat your body will determine if you end up a retiring old bomb or a re-tyring vintage classic.