I advise academics who retire to be humble and prepare to learn anew and continue passing on knowledge to the young and others in completely new ways. Do not allow yourselves to go into oblivion once out of the ivory tower. Never.

You can be very useful in many other ways. You can even write books or articles for a non-academic world. Don’t struggle to be slaves of money like the others. All you need now is to continue living your life without stress. Priotising riches by whatever means a goal will definitely take you into the decomposer chain earlier than you should. Just eat well, drink juices from natural fruits, avoid genetically modified foods and avoid conflicts. Live a less complicated life.

Remember there are certain things you used to do which you can no longer do. Give them up. There are also certain friends or acquaintances that used to add value to your life but will no longer do now that you are retired. They will even avoid you since as a retired person you may add nothing to their lives.

Do not mind some people laughing at you are no longer driving a car like you did. At least you enjoyed the experience of driving your own car. That was then. Now you are in new circumstances. Accept the change and move on.

There will be ailments that you never experienced that will now bother you. Confront them with humility. Don’t complain God has forsaken you. Just make sure that the little money you have is for your health. After all even your children may leave far away from you, and your wife may decide to leave you and join her/your children. Don’t worry as long as you can take care of your health and engage in some productive work, which is less demanding. God wants you alive, not dead. A dead person is useless to him although useful to life-death cycle.

I am writing this to you because I know many academics have failed to add 15 yes to their lives after regiment. Many die in the first five years after retirement. I have added 15 to mine, so I can afford to tell you why have succeeded in doing so.

If you came to Nawaka my village you will find that I live a very humble life. I do what I know best: reading and writing, but I remember to do a little exercise. I do not allow conflicts within and outside my mind. What is not important in terms of adding value to my life I ignore.

I have already written articles for you on how to cure backache and heart related diseases without medicines. I hope the articles helped you. However, it is good once in a while to visit a hospital to check on how your organs are performing. But don’t make it a habit to take too many medicines at the same time. Drink a lot of water and shower with cold water. Do not stick cold water, but warm water.

Above all love others without forgetting to love yourself without being greedy or selfish. You cannot have a craze for everything and you will not develop complicated mental, emotional and psychological complications at one time or another.

Try to fit in the community you have entered after your long stay in the academia. However, don’t overstretch yourself. After all the majority of the members don’t you know very well since you were detached from them for decades as you pursued the academic career. Many are very young people whom you cannot relate too very well. Do what will not make them injure your personality and/or character. Remember once one’s character is injured, it is not easy to reconstruct it .

My own experience after 15 years of being in retirement, is that it is more rewarding allocating time and energy in/to what you feel comfortable with. Don’t care what other minds tell you. Care about what your mind tells you. After all after such a long time on earth, and away from the real world, few will be able to change your mindset. But they may influence you to give up smoking, drinking and womanising or manising, which will not add value to your life and can reduce it to nothing.

Remember academics belong to the academic world. There are no academics outside the academic world. Outside the academic world is the real world, which you must learn to live in.

A word to the wise is enough.

• A Tell report / By Oweyegha-Afunaduula / Environmental Historian and Conservationist Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA), Seeta, Mukono, Uganda.