It has been a year since I retired and I have got to tell you, I thought I was ready but I was not.  I am not referring to financial matters, mind you.  I am referring to the lifestyle and emotional sides of the equation and what I knew was coming but was ill-prepared to deal with.  No one warned me that getting up each day without deadlines would not be easy, nor did anyone tell me how leaving the working world (or in my case the full-time blogging world) would seem like my own personal fall from grace.

Whether you are young and simply dreaming about retirement, or older and just beginning to dip your toes into the possibility, I hope you can learn something from my experience and find your own path to a fulfillment during this new and wonderful phase of your life.

For me, one of the most frustrating aspects of aging has been the physical changes to my appearance.  Funny thing is, the laugh lines, crows feet, and even the wrinkles on my face don’t bother me much.  What does, however, are the lumps, bumps, and odd rolls of excess fat that seem to materialize a bit at a time with each passing year.  That has been coupled with a  modest weight gain which my doctor said was fine, and actually a good thing.

Not satisfied that this was just the way it was, I went on a quest to find out what was really happening to my body and what I can do about it.  The bottom line is this:  although my diet was good and in fact, more healthy than most, it was still accumulating toxins that were preventing my digestive system from working at maximum efficiency.  I needed to make a change, so I did some research, and set on a course to both look and feel better.

In this article, I describe how I lost tens pounds while experiencing an abundance of energy and feeling downright good about myself.  My secret was cabbage soup, lots of water, and the elimination of white stuff, including bread, sugar, rice, noodles, and other starches.

It seems only fitting that with the start of the new year, we revisit the concept of living a joyful and strategic life. Yes, I know that is a touchy feeling concept but bear with me, for no matter how many tasks you add to your list of things to do if those things don’t bring peace, comfort, and happiness into your life, why bother?

Before sharing these eight steps, let me just say that no matter where you happen to be in life, living joyfully should be your goal.  Yes, we all have chores that are distasteful and bills to pay.  In addition, we have people in our lives who are going to be negative and try to bring us down to their level.   The moment is now to step back and clear the slate.  If you are doing something regularly and you simply hate it, start doing something else instead.  The same applies to toxic relationships.  Life is too short not to be happy.