Those who know me know that I’ve spent years thinking about and planning retirement. In fact, when my employer first implemented LotusNotes as our email system, my first password was, and remained for many years, “retirement.”
According to Hyrum W. Smith in his book entitled, Purposeful Retirement, there are two “camps” of retirees: those who have been planning and looking forward to their retirement since the day they started their first real job, and those who go out the door kicking and screaming because retirement looms before them like an empty abyss. My years of research and planning, as well as my password choice, would suggest I’m in the former camp.
When I worked in Human Resources and counseled individuals contemplating retirement, I often walked away with a perception very consistent with Smith’s characterization of the two camps. Some individuals were going to slip into retirement as easily as they put on comfortable slippers, while others were going to require the equivalent of the shoehorn they had used their entire career to slip on their retirement footwear.
Retirement is a gift of time and of opportunities. But, we have to recognize it for what it is and what it is not. The challenge is not to view retirement as the transition into a rocking chair, but as the chance to do the things we used to like to do, the things we currently like to do, and the things we’ve always wanted to do. The challenge is to NOT check out and just retire. Early in my career I adopted the mantra “I work to live, not the other way around.” Now, as I stand at the doorframe of retirement from my place of employment for 37+ years, I’ve decided I need to modify the mantra. Hence it is now “I retire to live, not from living.”
I am now two calendar weeks away from my last day of employment, but only days away from the preceding vacation. It’s been slightly more than 2 months since my successor began her employment with the company. I am fortunate in that we have worked very well together as we developed and executed a plan which positions her well for her transition into a familiar role but with a new employer. The ease with which we discuss topics and context have allowed me the luxury of a glide path towards retirement rather than a cliff, a situation I imagine is more difficult to transition from. I’ve been able to clean up files, discuss current and historical matters, and chat over times old and new with colleagues I’ve worked with for many years. In fact, I’ve even been able to complete a few Continuing Legal Education credits I’ve so badly delayed during COVID.
I have always viewed life as consisting of three phases: education and career preparation; career and family; and retirement. But my definition of retirement is aligned with that of Smith, and focuses on how to have a retirement rich in experiences and fulfillment. It has never included the image of a rocking chair. More like sliding into the grave battered and bruised due to continued activities and, well, living. I must admit there have been days where I didn’t have the distraction of meetings, leaving voids in my calendar which allowed the shadows of doubt about my own retirement to creep in. But, in the end, the years of thought and preparation are paying off. The assurances of a loving and graceful spouse, conversations with good friends, the creation of this website, the accumulation of many hobbies over the years, and the development of my own “Tree of Life” (more on that in a later blog) have allowed me to push aside the doubts and continue on this wonderful journey into my next phase of life.
Thank you, my dear friends, for your friendship and support.