
There is almost as much written about retirement as there is about menopause. Before we start packing in order to head for the “best places to retire,” we get to wrap our heads around retirement in general. The following is a guest post by Deborah Drucker, the author of the new blog, Notes Tied on the Sagebrush:
Our boomer generation could look forward to 20 or 30 more years after reaching the typical retirement age of 65. There is a large chunk of our age group who will not enter full retirement at 65. Those of us who have been involuntarily unemployed before even reaching retirement age. I get a kick out of this euphemism involuntarily unemployed. I have seen it used in a couple of articles I have read recently. It is another way of saying your job was eliminated, terminated or you were laid off unexpectedly. This happens to more and more older people nowadays before they get the chance to reach retirement age. They find themselves adrift and scrambling to find another job to get them to retirement. The usual scenario is that they remain unemployed for an extended period and then if they find another job it is at a much lower pay scale or they can only find part-time or temp work. So this makes it hard to prepare financially for retirement at the age of 65 and people then find themselves needing to work for more years.
If you are lucky enough to find yourself voluntarily unemployed or retired you need to worry about what to do with yourself for 20 or 30 years. That is assuming you are lucky to live that long. So another topic that is popular now is what you should do with yourself for those 20 or 30 years. Although you may have looked forward to having nothing to do it can end up being boring and depressing we are told. You could find yourself experiencing “retirement burnout.” So there are blogs and articles that give us advice about that.
For those of us who don’t want to retire there can be encore careers. There is a whole industry out there of advice books, blogs and career counselors that are all too willing to advice us on what to do and how to do it. They tell us we can happily transition into encore careers of great fulfillment and purpose.
Whether you are voluntarily or involuntarily unemployed, you are making a major transition. You are experiencing a loss. A loss of what you thought your last working years before retirement would look like if you were involuntarily unemployed and a loss of your identity as a person with a full-time job or career even if you voluntarily retired. Then there is a period of being adrift emotionally as you try to adjust to the change that has happened. You need to let go of your expectations and past identity before you can form a new one and embrace your new life. Or figure out what you are going to do with yourself. It is a transition we must all go through anytime we experience change that is expected or unexpected according to William Bridges who has written about and had a whole career in the subject ofTransitions. He describes the process as occurring in 3 stages. First: Disengagement or letting go of the old, Second: the Neutral Zone, which is where I am now, (Neutral Zone reminds me of The Twilight Zone), Third: the New Beginning where you know where you’re going.
I have found the Letting Go Stage to be a bit sticky. I thought I had let go of my feelings about losing my job and let go of my feelings about not getting re-established in a teaching career. But recently, I found I am still working on letting go or working through the feelings. Bridges says you have to do this before you can go on to the next steps.
I have been in the middle of this transition for the past 6 years. I am one of those who was involuntarily unemployed (trying saying that real fast 5 times) and then unable to find full-time employment again even after getting a teaching credential in an effort to transition into another job sector. I have been working part-time since the age of 60. It has been a journey from losing my job, to getting my credential, to trying to find full-time employment as a teacher, to working as a substitute teacher and not liking it, to looking into healthcare jobs again, and now working as a private tutor. I also volunteer tutor at a local adult school literacy center.
I am now at the place where I am thinking about what the next stage of my life might look like, the New Beginning. I no longer want to devote all my energy to a full-time job even though it would give me a better income. I have weighed how much energy I have and am willing to give to a traditional full-time job compared to how important it is to me to have flexibility and free time to do whatever else I want to do. I don’t think I even have the energy for a full-time job anymore. At least not the kind of job that is 40+ hours a week with 2 weeks off a year for good behavior. I find at the present time I enjoy having a flexible work schedule.
I am not done with this transition period yet though. I know that what I am doing now is an interim thing or only part of what I want to be doing. I feel I do need more. Not just filling my time with busy work either. I want to be engaged in something else. So now to find out what that else is going to be.
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If you would like to add your voice to the Guerrilla Aging discussion, send your guest post to Renee at lifeintheboomerlane@gmail.com.
underwritingsolutionsllc
August 8, 2014
Everybody needs to read Transitions by William Bridges. Best of luck in figuring out what to do for the next 30 years. My Golden Years will be spent unleashing my inner writer. It’s what I do. It’s who I am. But unable to pursue with 100% attention due to time and financial constraints.
Deborah Drucker
August 8, 2014
I have been reading ” The Way of Transition, Embracing Life’s Most Difficult Moments” by William Bridges. This transition has been quite a journey for me. I hope everyone will be able to get to my blog because I am having a problem with the link working. I am working on unleashing my writer as well.
Deborah Drucker
August 8, 2014
I fixed my link problem. Besides going through transition I am technologically impaired. If you click on my name now it will go to my blog. Sorry for the inconvenience. Would love everyone to visit.:)
DEDE DRUCKER
August 8, 2014
Good job, Deb. I know writing is hard work, as i am a the daughter of a writer. As for “transitions,” hope to embrace them as well as you in a few years or have I been in continual transitions through out my life!!!xoxoxo
Deborah Drucker
August 8, 2014
Thanks Dede! Me too , so many transitons.
Anne Whitaker
August 8, 2014
I refuse the term ‘retirement’ – prefer to talk about ‘post-career life’….thanks for this article!
Deborah Drucker
August 8, 2014
You’re welcome. I prefer to continue to have a life too. But sometimes we get hit with
” retirement” before we are ready. And even when we are ready it is an adjustment. With all the advice articles and blogs telling us how to do everything I think it is good to remember that one size does not fit all and we each have to find our own path.
Sunshinebright
August 8, 2014
Good post. Covers it all, I think. “Retirement” is certainly one of the most important transitions we can experience.
Deborah Drucker
August 8, 2014
Thanks! Glad you liked it.I think it is a big transition for many people.
2dogsonly
August 9, 2014
Sherwin b. Nuland’s aging well is a great roadmap and I loved his book How We Die ( much more than how the body shuts down.
http://web.stanford.edu/group/hopes/cgi-bin/wordpress/2013/05/the-art-of-aging-a-doctors-prescription-for-well-being-by-sherwin-b-nuland/
Deborah Drucker
August 9, 2014
Thanks for some more food for thought with the books. I like “Cancer as a Turning Point” by Lawrence LeShan. And you don’t have to have cancer to benefit from it. I think we need to chart our own course ultimately and find our own answers to what is right for us.
IreneC
August 11, 2014
I tried retirement 3 times before I finally successfully retired. One of my big hangups was giving up the steady income and only relying on Social Security. I have this reluctance to delve into my retirement accounts in case I might need the money for the future. Go figure. Like .. isn’t the future now? Isn’t that what I planned for all those working years? I love retirement and consider myself lucky to be able to enjoy it. Go forth and play!
Deborah Drucker
August 11, 2014
Good to hear that retirement is working out for you. I am still in the pre-retirement stage and I am not sure what the next stage of my life is going to look like. What do you like doing with all your free time now?
btg5885
August 12, 2014
“Voluntarily retired” is funny, but sad. Always remember when corporate downsizings occur, often to pay for the sins of poor leadership decisions, good people who happen to be older get swept into the mix. Especially if they cut a group, they will throw in some older performers and still satisfy the ADEA ratios. My strong suggestion is start planning as soon as you can before they tap you on the shoulder. You can see signals when the downsizings occur more frequently. Pay down debt, save, start volunteering, get your resume together if you want to work. If they have a way to phase into retirement, you may want to think about it.
There is most definitely life after retirement. But if your work defines you, look for some new definitions to explore. Follow your passions when and where you can. Sorry for the soapbox, but good people get caught up in these downsizings and they should not be surprised when it happens.
Deborah Drucker
August 12, 2014
ADEA ratio. Is that Age and Disability Employment Discrimination? I think I was and many of my generation were pretty naïve about age discrimination. We did not see it coming. Coming at us. I think now people are more aware of how quickly their jobs can be eliminated and are hopefully able to be prepared. Even when you have you resume ready it is very difficult to get a job when you are older. But the other theme in my article is how we deal with change. Even when we are voluntarily unemployed and chose to be retired. I like you advice to follow your passions when and where you can. Thanks for your comment.
btg5885
August 12, 2014
Thanks. ADEA means precisely that. There is a great book called “Halftime” to help people think what they want to do with the second half of their lives.
Deborah Drucker
August 12, 2014
Thanks for the book recommendation.
btg5885
August 12, 2014
I looked to quickly at your term. ADEA = Age Discrimination in Employment Act. My bad for being sloppy.
Deborah Drucker
August 12, 2014
Oh well, I don’t think the Act is working too well.
Retirement Dreamer
August 17, 2014
I have dreams of lazy mornings with a cup of coffee, catching up on all the recipes I have saved, and enjoying my newly downsized life. My dreams seem so far away tho waking up at the crack of dawn, rushing to an office and coming home exhausted. I pray that I am on the last road of my journey to retirement.
Deborah Drucker
August 17, 2014
You will get there. I hope you do some of what you love to do now.
Renee midlifelows.com
August 24, 2014
Entering mid-life retirement is a challenge. The key is being flexible, as you pointed out.
Deborah Drucker
August 25, 2014
Yes, well, now I am reading another book by William Bridges, his revised edition of “Transitions” in which he talks about how as we get to be older we move into a different developmental stage. More inward looking and not worried about career success. Interesting perspective. Then I read things written by those with a reinvention agenda. I conclude that no one size fits all approach works and that we all have to come to find out what works best for ourselves.