Author Archives: Bob Ritzema

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About Bob Ritzema

I am a fourth-generation American of Dutch ancestry and am trained as a clinical psychologist. In 2012, I retired from Methodist University in North Carolina to return to Michigan to help family, and, in 2023, I started again with a move to Milwaukee to be near my children. I maintain a part-time therapy practice. I can be reached at bobritzema@hotmail.com.

Why Older Adults Are Lousy Multitaskers

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I’m a multitasker. I started today by simultaneously eating breakfast, watching CBS This Morning, and reading an article on Pope Francis. Later, I jumped from computer to tablet to phone. Unfortunately, whenever I multitask I miss out on important information, … Continue reading →

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My Midlife Crisis? Which One?

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I wrote earlier about the First, Second, and Third Spiritual Journeys of life. The Second Journey—having to do with some sort of reorientation during middle adulthood—encompasses the “mid-life crisis” of common parlance. This post will describe the concept of the mid-life … Continue reading →

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Faithfulness in Old Age: John M. Perkins

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

Yesterday I attended the talk by John M Perkins during Calvin College’s January Series. I’ve known about Perkins for most of my adult life—his leaving Mississippi as a young man after his brother was killed by a town marshal, planning … Continue reading →

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My Sacred Journey

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I recently wrote about spiritual journeys. In that context, I was interested to see a blog post on “The Quest for a Good Life” in which Andy Tix describes his life as a sacred journey. He tells a little of … Continue reading →

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Interview: Caring for an Elderly Parent

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

As discussed in a previous post, in 2012 39% of adults in the U.S. served as a caregiver for an elderly family member. The numbers of caregivers are expected to increase as the population ages. I sat down recently to … Continue reading →

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Spiritual Journeys

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

Soul Searchers: An Anthology of Spiritual Journeys (Eerdmans, 2002), complied by freelance editor Teresa de Bertodano, is a collection of biographical, autobiographical or fictional accounts of life events that convey something of who each person was or was called to be. … Continue reading →

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A Five-Sentence Life Story

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

I wrote recently about the benefits of life review. Since I left full-time work in the summer of 2012, I have been thinking more about my past, that that seems to be leading to a time of life review for me. … Continue reading →

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On Being Old Enough to Have a Stress-Free Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

Lynne Hybels, who ministers on behalf of third-world communities and is married to megachurch pastor Bill Hybels, recently wrote an article for the her.meneutics site at Christianity Today describing the progressively more laid-back, less frantic approach she has taken to … Continue reading →

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Hi, I’m Bob and I’m Redeployed

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

Recently, as part of a series of posts about leisure and retirement, I relayed that today’s older adults are less likely than those in the previous generation or two to quit working entirely, and those who do quit working or switch to … Continue reading →

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Life Review

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

A while ago, there was an interesting post on the Changing Aging blog on the topic of memoir and life review.  The author, Gaea Yudron, the director of Sage’s Play, an organization that promotes successful aging, wrote. “As we grow older, we … Continue reading →

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