“I get up every morning and write for an hour or two,” he says. “It’s why the good Lord put me here.” Too much time spent with no purpose is associated with unhappiness. Stay busy! Not with busywork or trivial pursuits, but with meaningful activities. Economists have coined the term unretirement to describe the hordes of people who retire, find they don’t like it, and go back to work. Between 25 and 40 percent of people who retire reenter the workforce. Harvard economist Nicole Maestas says, “You hear certain themes: a sense of purpose. Using your brain. And another key component is social
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