Never underestimate the value of simple pleasures! Even savouring a steaming cup of freshly roasted coffee with a friend can strengthen a relationship, stimulate your brain and reduce feelings of isolation. It can also spark a moment of joy, which may be in short supply these days.
My client, RTOERO, publishes a quarterly magazine for its 80,000+ mostly retired members. I interviewed some of them to find about their sometimes surprising simple pleasures in my article below. It was featured in the Summer 2024 issue of the RTOERO magazine, Renaissance.
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Celebrating life’s little delights
Members share their simple pleasures
From laughing with friends to enjoying the sunset to snuggling with grandchildren, small experiences spark joy.
“A happy life is a sum of small joys,” says scientist and happiness researcher Dr. Gillian Mandich, who conducted a behavioural science experiment for Interac in 2021. The study found that during difficult times like the pandemic, Canadians increasingly made small, non-essential “feel good” purchases.
“Even something as simple as buying your morning coffee can add a burst of happiness to your day,” Mandich points out.
RTOERO surveyed members last summer, asking for your simple pleasures. For many, the heartwarming pleasures were time with children, grandchildren and partners. Others enjoyed gardening or reading by the fire on a cold day. Several mentioned friends, travel and historical research. Sparkling bathrooms and butter tarts also made the list.
Positive angle-r
Linda Gaboury has a number of simple pleasures, and all have to do with being active outdoors. “We’re not couch potatoes,” she says.
She and her husband, Guy, love camping and bought a “fifth wheel” camper in 2017, the year she retired. One week later, they set off on a two-month adventure, visiting her brother-in-law and his wife in Nanaimo, then travelling Vancouver Island right to Tofino. Since then, their time has been highlighted by smaller camping trips in Northern Ontario.
Another simple pleasure is fishing, which she finds relaxing and peaceful. “My father fished and hunted, and I was Daddy’s girl, so I always tagged along,” Gaboury says. “Guy and I eat fish all the time, especially walleye (pickerel) and northern pike. If we’re at our camp on the Mistango River in northeastern Ontario, we can sit in our lawn chairs and fish right off our dock.”
In the winter, you’ll find the Gabourys snowmobiling. Their camp is accessible only by boat or snowmobile, and they spend a lot of time there, especially in winter.
“Retirement really is the best job ever,” Gaboury says. “When you’re working, you have a schedule. When you’re retired, you can still get up at the same time, but the schedule is your own and you don’t have to rush. You can have that second coffee relaxing in your pyjamas.”
Cross-country bliss
Louise Mitchell and her husband, Neil, both retired early so they could enjoy time together “and do what we like.” That includes reading two or three books a week (history, murder mysteries, spy novels) and watching the turkeys, fox, deer and other wildlife on their rural property north of Ottawa.
But what happened at Mitchell’s retirement in June 2018 reflects one of their favourite simple pleasures.
“At the end of my last day, I was escorted by all my bike friends to dinner,” she says. “I was also offered a job teaching dirt-biking skills. I took it! And I’ve been teaching dirt biking and adventure-bike riding May to October since then.”
Mitchell’s “bike friends” ride dirt bikes and adventure bikes, which are larger than dirt bikes and can go on- or off-road.
It all started when Neil, who was into motocross racing and riding dirt bikes when he was young, asked if she’d like to get her motorcycle license. She said yes.
“I was in my 40s when I got licensed on a sport bike,” she explains. “I rode for five years but found the bike so uncomfortable that I couldn’t go far. Then we saw the ‘Long Way Round’ series documenting the 19,000-mile journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman riding motorcycles from London, England through Europe, Asia and Alaska. We looked at each other and said, ‘We could do that.’”
So they transitioned from sport bikes to larger, more comfortable adventure bikes. That meant they could ride for a whole day, which led to day trips. That led to meeting other bikers, which led to attending bike rallies over multiple days, following a leader or a specific route on a GPS. With experience following GPS routes, the couple added travel to the mix.
Since then, the Mitchells have biked in Ireland, England, Portugal, Spain, across the U.S. and beyond – and they rent their bikes wherever they go. “Each time, we improve our skills as riders and we expand our horizons,” Mitchell says. “But the most exciting thing is meeting so many new people.”
Be happy
Travel also played a large role in the life of Nancy O’Grady, although that resulted in a “frenetic” first stage of retirement.
She and her husband had travelled extensively while they were both working, trying to get to every country in the world; she stalled out at 137. After retirement, they ramped it up. Eventually, they reached a point where the only countries left were either deemed unsafe or too difficult and expensive to get to.
So on the cusp of her 65th birthday, O’Grady is ready for a calmer life. High on her list of simple pleasures is a trifecta of Bs: Bordeaux wine, big band music and buddies.
“A connoisseur would say that Bordeaux blends are medium- to full-bodied red wines with bold aromas,” she says.
Big band music evokes memories of her parents, which brings O’Grady joy. “The music of the Glenn Miller and the Benny Goodman orchestras, the Dorsey Brothers and others filled our home over the radio during the week and through the console stereo in the living room on Sunday afternoons. These days, the sound of big band music continues to fill my home through Alexa, iTunes and Spotify.”
O’Grady considers herself blessed to be part of a circle of dynamic, clever, adventurous, interesting, supportive and kind buddies. Some are travel buddies; others, coffee buddies, walking buddies, phone-only or text-only buddies. Some are childhood friends, former colleagues or former students; others have come into her life more recently.
“My buddies form the richest part of the tapestry of my life,” O’Grady says. “C’mon over. Nothing special, no fuss, just a glass of Bordeaux, a big band playlist and immense gratitude for life’s simple pleasures!”
Enjoying the view
There’s a reason Dawn Macleod has truly simple pleasures: coffee, her backyard and her chickens. For 10 years, Macleod has been in and out of surgeries and treatments for cancer.
“I officially retired from teaching in 2015 because of the brain fog that goes along with chemotherapy,” she says. “I knew I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to supervise a group of children. And the amount of time I spent at appointments made me unreliable.”
Now 59, Macleod appreciates having a house in a small town. Last year, she and her husband, Neil, installed double doors on the outside wall of their second-floor bedroom, overlooking the backyard and empty lot next door. “The view is amazing,” Macleod says. “I can sit up in bed, sip my Kicking Horse coffee (roasted in Canmore), soak up the sunshine, and laugh at the antics of my hens.”
The Macleods got their first chickens in April 2023 when their nephew renovated the shed into a chicken coop with an outdoor run. “Chickens really are quite entertaining,” Macleod explains. “We’re now up to five hens and one rooster I call Steve.”
Macleod is especially grateful to have had almost a full year without any treatment or surgery. “I had strength, clarity and appetite. I could work out in the garden or walk around the yard. We also got new neighbours whose children have kept me entertained and brought a whole new energy level to our street.”
She adds, “It sounds cliché but it really does take some hard times to learn how to appreciate the good times. And, if you have work and health, treasure that.”
Keep rollin’
Roller skating does it for Connie Davis. Retired for just over three years, she also enjoys nature walks with another retired teacher, coaxing chickadees to feed on her hands. She’s making up for getting kicked out of art in high school by dabbling in water colour painting. But roller skating is a 20-year passion.
Like ice dancing, professional roller skating demands a certain sequence of steps to music on a large, arena-type floor. Connie has competed at a high level in figures, solo dance and team dance sponsored by USARS, the US national governing body for competitive roller sports, filling a display case with medals.
Davis also teaches roller skating and has been a roller skating consultant for movies filmed in Winnipeg, where she lives. But above all, she considers roller skating for two hours by herself a simple pleasure.
Her former dance partner has been in a nursing home with dementia for about two years. “Our last competition was 2017, so not that long ago,” Davis says. “That woke me up to the need to live every moment of retirement. Retirement is fabulous and it is what you make it!”
Related reading:
Find the secrets to a happy retirement
Help readers see the value of music on mental health
How do RTOERO members make family reunions memorable?