“As your life changes, it takes time to recalibrate, to find your values again. You might also find that retirement is the time when you stretch out and find your potential.” Sid Miramonte. Retirement: Your New Beginning
My friend John retired last week from a County job with the Department of Labor. He was grinning from ear to ear when I saw him in our condo pool and said he never felt more relaxed. But understandably, he had a myriad of questions. Will he be bored? Should he relocate to Maine or wait and see how living on Long Island with a fixed income works for him. Is it a big adjustment? Will this smile on his face disappear?
Our conversation started me thinking on my own retirement which occurred 2 years ago. I was 10 years older than John when I retired and so ready. I had many of the same queries and worries.
My research brought me to an article entitled 10 Great Things About Retirement That You Should Never Forget by Stephanie Cunningham. (Www.sixtyandme.com). The author feels that retirement can be confusing to navigate and compares it to our teenage years. During that time we “are scrambling to find out who we are, what we want to do with our lives and how we fit in with society”. Many feel the same way in retirement as we leave lifelong careers and lose intimate partners and friends.
But she continues that we are not teenagers, but individuals with much life experience to take on these new challenges. Age provides the springboard to reestablish yourself during retirement in the following ways:
We have innate confidence from having years of experience unlike our teenage years when we felt uncertain how to act in new situations, how to make friends and explore and find our paths. With our experience we know we are capable of finding our way.
We are comfortable in our own skin. No more teenage angst. We are happy to emphasize our uniqueness rather than trying to fit in with our peers.
It’s liberating to have freedom from responsibility for others, for meeting deadlines and for achieving someone else’s goals. We now have time to explore our own goals, find activities we always wanted to do, but were too busy. We can think out of the box and try something totally new (like salsa dancing or learning Chinese).
Remember that our creativity does not decrease with age. In retirement, we have time to learn forms of art we always wanted to explore. I began writing this blog at the age of 69 and it has brought me much happiness. Being creative is most satisfying.
Moreover, by now we have all experienced life’s disappointments and losses and managed to get through the challenges. With new problems or situations we have the compassion for ourselves and others based on our past experiences.
In retirement we have fewer time constraints. We have more time to do something unexpected, travel, try a new hobby and explore new interests. We never had the time when we were working; we had to squeeze everything into our busy schedule.
Retirement is the time to prioritize yourself. You have the time to “streamline your life and choose where you want to devote your time and money”. We have time to curate our life to include those activities and people we want in our new stage of life.
I have prioritized my health, by swimming laps daily for one hour, walking daily and eating more fruits and vegetables. I can stay up until 12:00 midnight researching my blog, knowing that my alarm clock will not ring at 6:30 am and that I can sleep in.
My life has changed for the better with less work related stress. I don’t worry on Sunday night that my enjoyable weekend will end. I sleep eight hours a night (except when I eat coffee ice cream too late).
To sum it up, I love retirement because of these benefits:
Sleep, relaxation and lack of stress
Time to exercise and take care of our bodies
Time to learn new things
Time to give back
Time to reflect on the meaning of life and what is important
More time to spend with family and good friends
Time to go on adventures.
So remember if you are contemplating retirement, “ it is not the end of the road, but the beginning of the open highway”. Author unknown
How do you feel about retirement. I would love to hear from you.
I’ve been retired since March 2018. I’m not sure I love it yet. I’ve gone through many changes over the last year, some great, some good, some are still a wait and see. We moved to Arizona, leaving behind family, friends and a comfortable life. Now, I miss my family desperately, I’m trying to make new friends and life as I knew it, is over. I’m thinking about getting a part-time job because I’m bored to tears, but I can’t find anything I’d be interested in because we live in the middle of the desert in a fairly new (and very conservative) community. I don’t have any desire to volunteer because I’m not very good at not being the “boss”. What have we done?! What on earth will I do next?
Hi Shellie. Thanks for your comments. You are going through so many life changes at once, all being difficult! Leaving family and friends behind is ever easy and you moved to a totally new geographic area of the country. Give it time and hopefully it will get better. Is there a retired senior volunteer organization in your area. They often have lists of volunteer oppotunities or may know of part time jobs in your area. Thinking of you! XO. Penny
Still hanging in there! Thanks for the response, Penny, I’ll keep you posted.
Please do. Love you Shellie?
I love love love retirement. The first year I think I slept! Then I thought I should work on projects. Now I enjoy doing anything I want, not having responsibility and the stress free days. I wouldn’t change a thing.
I am right there with you, my friend. No more work related stress or arising at 6:00 am. We can do whatever we want! Yay!