Older men, retirement and ageing: finding your feet when the work stops

No, and this myth costs lives. Depression is not a normal part of ageing, it's a common, well-understood health condition that responds to treatment in older men just as well as in younger people. It often gets missed because everyone expects old age to be a bit grim. If low mood has stuck around, see a GP, it's treatable at any age.

Because work isn't just a pay packet, it's structure, identity, mates and purpose, and a lot of that can vanish in a single week. Feeling flat or lost afterwards is incredibly common, and it's not weakness. Building a new routine, reconnecting (a Men's Shed is the best-fit option for older blokes), and a chat with your GP all help you find your feet.

Men's Sheds are community workshops, over a thousand across Australia, where blokes work on projects side by side. Nobody makes you talk about feelings, you just turn up, and you end up with somewhere to be and mates who notice if you don't show. Find your nearest one at mensshed.org. It's purpose, projects and connection, which is exactly what helps.

Don't wait for him to raise it, and don't write it off as 'just getting old'. Ask him directly and kindly, more than once: 'You don't seem yourself lately, how are you really going?' Watch for withdrawal, irritability, drinking more, giving up hobbies and 'what's the point' talk. Gently steer him to his GP, and if you're ever worried about his safety, Lifeline is 13 11 14 and emergencies are 000.

Often it's a lifetime of being told to tough it out, kept up long past the point it helps, stacked with retirement, health decline, losing a partner or mates, and feeling like a burden. The strongest thing an older bloke can do is break that old rule and say 'I'm not travelling well'. That one sentence, plus a GP, has turned a lot of lives around.