Tag Archives: life story

Life Review: My Hardest Work Experience

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Bob Ritzema

I recently talked with a young adult friend about difficulties she’s having at work, and ended up telling her about the most difficult experience I had in five decades in the workplace. I’ve decided to write out the story as … Continue reading →

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Getting Ready to Retire: Finding Yourself

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Bob Ritzema

Next Avenue recently published an article by Bart Astor, a writer specializing in life transitions, titled “When will you be ready to call it quits?” After talking to numerous retirees, Astor concluded that the following factors played into their decisions … Continue reading →

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Learning About Life From The Obituaries

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Bob Ritzema

Do you read the obituaries? Though I’m getting to the age where I probably should, I seldom do. Just as pedestrians tend to depend on others to look for traffic when crossing the road, I depend on my mom and … Continue reading →

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James A. Ritzema, RIP

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

You’re never ready. My dad had heart surgery 25 years ago, carotid artery surgery 13 years ago, and memory problems for about 10 years that eventually cascaded into severe dementia. Three months ago, he reached the point where he was … Continue reading →

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Roger Ebert, “Life Itself,” and Change

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I recently saw Life Itself, the documentary about Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert’s life. The most remarkable thing about this film wasn’t any of Ebert’s achievements but his willingness to be filmed as he was dying of cancer. His … Continue reading →

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Are Your Memories High- or Low-Resolution?

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

Here’s a comment that most of us would attribute to an older adult: “I can’t remember what I did yesterday, but I can remember the name of my 4th grade teacher.” We seniors are known for being better at retaining long-term … Continue reading →

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Becoming A Practicing Psychologist: How I Now View It

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

This post is a follow-up to one I wrote earlier about a transition during my early 30s—leaving my budding career as a college professor to work as a clinical psychologist in the Michigan prison system. I thought of this as a midlife transition. … Continue reading →

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My Life Story: Becoming a Practicing Psychologist

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

In a previous post about changes in midlife, I described several significant changes that I underwent. The first of these was that, at age 32, I decided that I wasn’t satisfied teaching what I hadn’t practiced, and sought part-time (later full-time) clinical … 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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My Sacred Journey

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

Originally posted on The Quest for a Good Life:
Life consists of stories. By this, I don’t mean that we all read stories or watch stories or hear stories, but rather that we live stories. More than likely, we don’t…

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