Thank you, Mark, for sharing your story and thank you, Bill, for bringing it to us. For several years I had the opportunity to give seminars to folks planning their retirement. I assumed that everyone in the audience actually wanted to leave their "job" and spend the rest of their lives living a perpetual vacation. But after reading a st…
Thank you, Mark, for sharing your story and thank you, Bill, for bringing it to us.
For several years I had the opportunity to give seminars to folks planning their retirement. I assumed that everyone in the audience actually wanted to leave their "job" and spend the rest of their lives living a perpetual vacation. But after reading a study by John W. Osborne (University of Alberta) titled Psychological Effects of the Transition to Retirement, it was clear that this was probably not the case, and maybe not a good thing to do.
For instance, as part of my presentation I would ask how many people in the audience wanted to live to be 100. A few hands went up. Then I would set a condition. If you could be assured of good health and high levels of energy, how many would like to live to 100 ? Almost every hand would go up. No big surprise.
Then I followed up by putting this into perspective. Assuming that we reach adulthood at age 20 and live to 100, the midpoint of our adult lives is age 60. At that point, we have half of our lives yet to live ! And the hard part is over. We have established careers, we have earned a measure of financial security, our children are grown and on their own, etc, etc, etc. The hard part is done ! And now we can live the second half of our lives as we wish, with the benefit of our experience, knowledge, and mature judgement. It was amazing to see the facial expressions on my audience when they saw their lives described this way. They ranged from smiles, to head nodding, to furrowed brows, to "deer in the headlights". Ha !
Importantly, it seemed to change the very definition of "retirement" from a mandatory change to a voluntary one. For those who were happy doing what they were doing, it was ok to just keep doing it. For those looking forward to the change, it was time to start practicing for the "second half" (similar to what JW has said above about a "warm" start).
I no longer give these seminars, but I can attest to the things that I used to talk about that have made my own retirement enjoyable and fulfilling. Actually, after some thought, there is really just one overriding element that creates the deep, fundamental happiness that fills every moment of my life. It is the loving relationships I have with the people that surround me. My life still has meaning, perhaps even greater meaning even though old friends and previous endeavors have changed. I have 32 years to 100. Can't wait to experience what the future holds. :-)
Thank you, Mark, for sharing your story and thank you, Bill, for bringing it to us.
For several years I had the opportunity to give seminars to folks planning their retirement. I assumed that everyone in the audience actually wanted to leave their "job" and spend the rest of their lives living a perpetual vacation. But after reading a study by John W. Osborne (University of Alberta) titled Psychological Effects of the Transition to Retirement, it was clear that this was probably not the case, and maybe not a good thing to do.
For instance, as part of my presentation I would ask how many people in the audience wanted to live to be 100. A few hands went up. Then I would set a condition. If you could be assured of good health and high levels of energy, how many would like to live to 100 ? Almost every hand would go up. No big surprise.
Then I followed up by putting this into perspective. Assuming that we reach adulthood at age 20 and live to 100, the midpoint of our adult lives is age 60. At that point, we have half of our lives yet to live ! And the hard part is over. We have established careers, we have earned a measure of financial security, our children are grown and on their own, etc, etc, etc. The hard part is done ! And now we can live the second half of our lives as we wish, with the benefit of our experience, knowledge, and mature judgement. It was amazing to see the facial expressions on my audience when they saw their lives described this way. They ranged from smiles, to head nodding, to furrowed brows, to "deer in the headlights". Ha !
Importantly, it seemed to change the very definition of "retirement" from a mandatory change to a voluntary one. For those who were happy doing what they were doing, it was ok to just keep doing it. For those looking forward to the change, it was time to start practicing for the "second half" (similar to what JW has said above about a "warm" start).
I no longer give these seminars, but I can attest to the things that I used to talk about that have made my own retirement enjoyable and fulfilling. Actually, after some thought, there is really just one overriding element that creates the deep, fundamental happiness that fills every moment of my life. It is the loving relationships I have with the people that surround me. My life still has meaning, perhaps even greater meaning even though old friends and previous endeavors have changed. I have 32 years to 100. Can't wait to experience what the future holds. :-)