24/11/2023
"How did you imagine retirement and what really happened?"
This was the question we discussed during yesterday's online networking.
Honestly, I imagined very straightforward and simple answers: I imagined retirement like "this" and I was surprised by "that".
What I heard in reality, only confirmed what retirement actually is about (and probably the whole life is about):
🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩
FULL of surprises and new experiences that we can’t always predict, control or even imagine!
🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩
What really happened in retirement for some people?
1. Time to slow down & do things differently ⏰
For many people, there was a milestone in their life (that was not necessarily defined by the day they officially retired or went on the official pension scheme), when their body told them:
It’s time to slow down, it’s time to do things at a different pace.
They had health issues (serious illness, surgeries, or extreme fatigue) that forced them to reevaluate their lifestyle. This is something no one can predict, but maybe one thing we all need to learn is how to listen to the subtle signals of our bodies that we need to slow down.
2. Time to tune into oneself & reshape own identity 💎
With slowing down, when work is no longer the center of our lives – our own being suddenly becomes the center of our lives. And we can start wondering: Who am I really? What do I want from life? And what else can I do that makes sense to me?
I noted down this sentence that beautifully summarizes the whole process:
„I have no idea who I am – it feels like I'm wandering in the desert. I try to bring all the bits of myself back together. The only thing I know is that I won't be the same person I was before. This can be a very scary, but interesting process.“
The topic of rediscovering and reshaping a personal identity during retirement (or any major life transition) is a well-known phenomenon. It can be a painful process, but enriching if we allow ourselves to go deep and trust the process.
3. Time to be curious and experience something new 👣
With retirement many people experience a sort of liberation – they slow down, they want to experience new things.
One can go to a singing class for the first time in their life and for the first time feel the power of the vibration inside the body. Which then leads to a childhood memory and a deeply personal realization.
Many people reinvent their retirement based on their own philosophy. Like in this comment: " My father didn't do many things in retirement, just played cards, ate his dinner, and went to sleep. In my retirement, I wanted to do things that I never did before. Not for 40hrs or 60hrs, but at my pace.“
Experiencing new things then leads to new hobbies, like photography, or to new professional waters (from IT consultant, to coach and therapist)
And who knows, where this curiosity and new experiences could lead. But creating this fertile ground of new experiences will give birth to something new in everybody’s life. The hidden gift of surprise – something we never planned, we never imagined, but it's worth living.
What about you? How did you imagine retirement (or 3rd phase of life if you don't like the word retirement) and what really happened?
