Will You Flourish or Languish? – Corey Keyes

Today’s Building Block: Wellness

What will your life in retirement really be like? Will you flourish or languish? Our guest today is Corey Keyes, a renowned expert and author of the groundbreaking book Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down. Corey explains what languishing is and the five essential “vitamins” for flourishing, derived from extensive research, offering practical strategies to improve well-being.

Corey Keyes joins us from North Carolina.

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Bio

Corey Keyes is professor emeritus of Sociology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA where he held the Winship Distinguished Research Professorship. He was a member of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Aging. He has been called on to participate in several U.S. National Academies of Science initiatives – “The Future of Human Healthspan” and improving national statistics to measure recovery from mental illness. His research introduced the concepts of social well-being, flourishing, languishing, the two continua model of mental health and illness, and his work is being used to prevent mental illness via the promotion of positive (flourishing) mental health. He has been selected to give several honorary lectureships, including the Dorosin Memorial Lecture for the National College Health Association, The Chesley Lecture on Aging at Minnesota State University, and the Anita Spenser Lectureship in Clinical Behavioral Sciences at McMaster University.

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For More on Corey Keyes

Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

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The Self-Healing Mind – Gregory Scott Brown, M.D.

Chatter & Your Inner Voice – Ethan Kross

The Power of Fun – Catherine Price

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Wise Quotes

On Flourishing and Languishing

“….the good news is that flourishing is at its peak during what most of us would consider the first decade of retirement. So roughly between 60 to 74, it is at its peak and before you retire and throughout your adult working phase, it starts out pretty low in early to late twenties, but it’s steadily increases and increases so that as you get settled into your career and become senior and established, you tend to on average leave your career on a high note. You’re flourishing, but it gets better. And that’s the point I want to make, that it’s the first decade at least of retirement. People are doing really well on average. It’s the problems that come with if we live long enough. And by that I mean roughly past the age of 75 plus and more and more of us are. We see a downturn in flourishing and an increase in languishing towards the end of life.”

On Activities That Promote Flourishing

“… five of the activities stood out among people who were flourishing, who they did more of the following. They engaged in more forms of helping behavior. It might be volunteering, helping people, or even living your purpose. Go out there and help someone or help something in the world and make it better. The second vitamin, that flourishers did more of was that they connected, prioritizing warm, trusting relationships. Relationships where they had a sense of belonging, where they were part of a community and relationships where they mattered. And by that I meant they were needed. And in my measurement of flourishing, the sense of contributing worth and value to the world is baked into flourishing. So the second thing they did more of was connect around warmth, trust, belonging, and mattering. The third was they were very active in learning something new and prioritizing personal growth. And I tend to think of this passion for learning. And again, this was not something you learned because you had to or it was work related. It could be work related of course. But when people have to learn and do it, much like many of my former college students, you would think college students are the happiest. They’re always learning something new, but they have to, so they don’t get the joy out of that learning and growth. That’s sort of like our version of photosynthesis. What plants do with the sun, human beings come alive when they’re engaged in some form of learning and growth. So that was the third category. The fourth was what I call transcending. And by that I mean spirituality and religion. People were engaged. Now again, you don’t have to be religious or even spiritual to benefit from this lesson, but what people were doing was engaging in some form of ritual or practice on a regular basis that had what we would consider a spiritual component. And for me, that’s always been yoga. Now again, you can do yoga and just do the poses and not get involved in all the spirituality, but I’m here to tell you that research shows you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck if you don’t just go and do the poses.”

On Purpose

“The reason I talked a lot about purpose in that chapter on helping is because that is the nature of a purpose. I have two very simple questions. I ask my readers, do you want to help someone or something and focus and make the world a better place through your activity? Yes or no? And if you say no to that, you don’t have the time or interest, don’t sweat this notion. Don’t even bother with the purpose. The purpose is built on trying to help someone or something in the world and improve it or leave it in better shape than what you found it. And then it’s not enough just to say, yes, I want to do that, but do you have the resources, the talent, the skill, the time, and can you get to the place where you need to do your purpose? Is transportation for instance, readily available? Can you drive or can you hitch a ride? There’s all kinds of practical things that you’ll need to think about, and that’s why I also recommend that when you think about helping, volunteering or living your purpose, think small. Small is big. And by that, I think we sometimes see so many of the tragic things on the news and we want to get right in there and solve the problem in the Middle East or refugees or there’s nothing wrong with that, but my chances are your purpose doesn’t have to be that enormous. It could be picking something very local and in your community so that you can actually do more of what and actually do some face-to-face work. And you said consistency earlier. It’s true. The research shows very clearly keeping up the habit of helping and then living your purpose is very important. And that’s why I say small is big, because if you keep local and focus on something that’s nearby something or someone that needs help, you’re much more likely to do it more consistently.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.2 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

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The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast are solely those of the guests and do not reflect the opinion of the host or Retirement Wisdom, LLC. The Retirement Wisdom Podcast primarily covers the non-financial aspects of retirement. From time to time we may invite guests who discuss other aspects of retirement planning, solely for educational purposes. Listeners are advised to consult qualified financial and/or medical professionals on those matters.