ReFirement at Any Age: As another new year begins

By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times Are you making plans to welcome something new into your life this year? It might be an improvement or an adjustment to something you’ve already begun. The best way to start your new 2023 adventure is by painting a visual picture of what you want your year to look like and then pour it out on paper for you to read. Excitement surrounds each New Year, don’t...

Becoming the Best U: Christmas stress and finding a new normal

By Nancy Plummer, Columnist, The Times Question: Christmas is my least favorite holiday. My parents are divorced and both got remarried. My sister spends Christmas with her husband’s family. Me, I just want to get through the day. I hate the drama the comes with it all. Is it terrible if I just stay home and ignore the day? Jane – Berwyn Answer: You’re not alone. Although many people say...

Becoming the Best U: Advice on exercise, gifts and self care

By Nancy Plummer, Columnist, The Times Question: I stopped exercising during Covid, and I want to get back into shape, but don’t know where to begin. Do you have any suggestions? Dana – West Chester Answer: I always tell my clients who are getting back into exercising to turn it into a social experience, so they look forward to it. Depending on your budget, physical limitations, and time allowance,...

ReFirement at Any Age: Good Thoughts. Good Words. Good Deeds

By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times This message is very fitting for this time of year and one that should be practiced every single day. Sounds like the perfect recipe for a fulfilling life, doesn’t it? If we have good thoughts, they will form into good words, which can be put into motion as good deeds. Sound easy? It’s not. It takes a conscience effort. If we view it and practice it as...

Becoming the Best U

Editor’s Note: Nancy Plummer was a columnist for us some years back on personal development, but due to health issues was forced to take a sabbatical. We are delighted to announce her return on a monthly basis with a new format. By Nancy Plummer, Columnist, The Times Question:  About a year ago, when I had a routine appointment at my primary doctor’s office, I noticed the staff and doctor...

ReFirement at Any Age: Add Refirement to the dictionary

By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times Hundreds of words are added to the dictionary every year. Some make sense and others are downright outrageous, in my opinion. Having said that, there are some words that should absolutely be added, in order to adhere with the current state of what is happening in the world and how society is altering their lifestyle to meet it. I’m suggesting that refire...

ReFirement at Any Age: Turning the calendar to a new decade

By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times I can’t believe I’ve been knocking around on this earth for seventy years. Where has the time gone? I know that’s what everybody says! Being a Septuagenarian is still sinking in, quite slowly…. I am sharing my personal perspective, with the notion that many people turning a new decade, or maybe even a new year, might feel the same way. The only decade...

Inner Nature: Natives vs. Non-Natives

By Vidya Rajan, Columnist, The Times Now that gardening season is underway, gardeners are drawn to plant sales and nurseries like a bee to honey. The general advice is to shun “invasives” and “exotic” plants, selecting instead “native”” plants to support local fauna. But what makes a plant, animal, fungus, a native? What is the generational number for drawing the demarcation line of from...

Inner Nature: The medicine/poison cabinet

By Vidya Rajan, Columnist, The Times We seldom think of the home or medicine cabinet as a storehouse of poisons, but that is what they are. From the very food we eat, the sprays we clean with, to the drugs we take, the chemical activity of – um, chemicals – can have diabolical effects upon biological systems. In this article, I will explore a few of the drugs we use to keep ourselves healthy, and...

ReFire at any age: Independence Day. What does it mean to you?

By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times Have you ever really thought about the significance of what this day means? We so often look at holidays like Memorial Day and Independence Day as days off from work, to play and have fun, which is okay but we all need to take a moment to celebrate in a deeper way. The word independence, by definition, means freedom from the control or influence of others....