10 Great Things About Retirement that You Should Never Forget
Retirement can be many things – some good, some bad – but it can also be quite confusing to navigate. And in many ways, it resembles the teenage years – remember those? A scary thought!
In the teenage years, we were scrambling to find out who we are, what we wanted to do with our life, and how we fit in with society. Many of us feel the same way in retirement as we leave lifelong careers and lose intimate partners and friends.
It may feel that the world has become very strange and cold. We are not teenagers anymore, but individuals with lots of life experience to take on these new challenges.
So how does age provide the bedrock to re-establish yourself during retirement?
Your Confidence Grows
We have innate confidence from having years of experience. Remembering our teenage years, back then we spent a lot of time in uncertainty how to act in new situations, how to make friends as we matured, and how to explore and find our path.
Although we have many of the same tasks, our experience tells us that we our capable of finding our way.
You Grow Comfortable in Your Own Skin
We are less concerned about following fashion in any arena. We aren’t concerned about being trendy but rather have and continue to develop our own style. For many of us, emphasizing our uniqueness is more important than the latest trend. We have left behind that teenage angst.
You Gain Freedom from Responsibilities
It is liberating to not be responsible for others, for meeting deadlines, and for achieving someone else’s goals. This is a time when we can explore our own desires. We can find those activities that we have always wanted to do or discover new ones.
You Can Explore Your Creativity
Contrary to popular belief, creativity does not decrease with age. Artists in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s are producing fresh, exciting art. And in our retirement, we have the time to learn those forms of art we have always found fascinating. Being creative is very satisfying.
You Discover True Compassion
Life includes inevitable ups and downs. By the age of 60, we have all found our unique path through the difficulties. When new challenges arise, these past experiences generate compassion for ourselves and for others.
You Can Finally Choose Your Friends
I have one friend with whom we often do not talk for months. When we get together, though, it feels like there was no time lapse in communication.
Others have maintained friendships since school days and continue to nourish and grow those relationships. Those long-time friends are the people who know us and accept us. It takes very little effort to maintain the friendship because of this deep level of knowing.
You Have Fewer Time Restraints
When you’re retired, you usually have the time to:
- do something unexpected,
- travel,
- try a new hobby, or
- explore new interests.
We are past the point in our lives when we couldn’t do things because we didn’t have the time to squeeze them in our busy schedules. Now we can enjoy the unexpected.
You Can Prioritise Yourself
Over the past 10 years, I learned to decline participation in projects that don’t interest me. I am streamlining my life to clarify exactly where I want to devote my time and resources.
You Learn About True Kindness
I thought intelligence and efficiency were very important when I was young. As I have grown older, I have elevated kindness as the most important quality.
I believe taking time for basic manners, asking people if you can be of help, looking out for others, and most important, having compassion and empathy for those on a different path is much more helpful.
You Become More Authentic
The previous nine points guide us to leading our most authentic life. Our authentic retirement consists of:
- our confidence in who we are,
- our experiences,
- our wins and losses,
- freedom to explore our long-held or new desires,
- our chosen companions,
- curating our life to include only those activities and people we want in our retirement,
- practicing kindness.
All bring clarity and purpose to retirement.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
This list is my interpretation of the 10 great things about retirement. What would you add or subtract? Have you created your authentic retirement? If so, how? Please share with our community!
Can’t wait until I finally get to retire! Looking forward to all these new and not so new rewards.
I agree with the feeling like a teenager working out where my place is now. Like the person in the previous comment I too struggle with the lack of identity from having no profession.
My biggest struggle is coming to terms with ill health and reduced mobility. I didn’t choose to retire my ill health forced me into retirement. It also means I’m struggling to travel and go out to try/join new things. Many of the things I had planned are no longer possible. But I’m flexible and working out what I can do and trying not to dwell on what I can’t.
I get to sleep in!
Thanks, Stephanie, for this thoughtful summary of the things I need to remember and be grateful for in my retirement days! Retirement is a bit like those teen years!
For me the hardest part is the change from identifying and being recognized as a professional with some authority, back to being just me without the title of Dr. I am finding there are both positives and negative factors about no longer being identified by my profession. A positive that your article reminded me is that I am relearning how to be more spontaneous and self-focused–in a good way.
I suppose it might be somewhat like a woman married for many years whose spouse dies or they divorce, and she suddenly finds herself with a new identity–Single. I feel like a Single without my professional identity!