Art is bringing joy to Annie Delaine's retirement. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)<\/p>\n
Australians are being encouraged to take up hobbies as they enter retirement.<\/p>\n
A public health professor says sustained periods of loneliness can cause long-term health impacts, including early mortality.<\/p>\n
Two years since picking up the paintbrush, 70-year-old Annie Delaine is now exhibiting her art as part of the South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA).<\/p>\n
For more than 50 years, Annie Delaine cared for communities across Australia.<\/p>\n
From working in the Torres Strait Islands as a remote-area nurse to managing operating rooms in regional South Australia, not a day went by when she did not love the work she was doing.<\/p>\n
"I worked in the islands for 16 years \u2026 you did everything, from delivering babies, immunising children to looking after their parents," she said.<\/p>\n
"You were looking after the entire health of the islands, and I just loved it."<\/p>\n
The people and community connections are what stopped Annie Delaine (right) from wanting to retire. (Supplied: Annie Delaine)<\/p>\n
As Ms Delaine approached her retirement years, she began to struggle with the idea of her next chapter.<\/p>\n
"It took me four times to retire before I bit the bullet and did it," she said.<\/p>\n
"I deregistered just so I wouldn't go back.<\/p>\n
"When I did, I thought to myself, 'How am I going to fill in the gap?' Because it was a big one to fill."<\/p>\n
Annie Delaine had bought paint years before but gave it to island locals instead. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)<\/p>\n
Nudging 70 and retiring for a fourth time, she tried her hand at art, a passion she secretly had for years but was too afraid to try.<\/p>\n