We spend most of our lives working hard to achieve our professional goals, but what happens when the goal is suddenly retirement? Many meeting professionals (Type A personalities) suddenly are at a loss as to how to make this next step. There is a process that you can go through which can equate to finding an encore career- doing something that you enjoy but still gives you something to do.
Retirement: How to Get Off the Work Merry-Go-Round
By Dawn Rasmussen, CMP – Pathfinder Writing and Career Services LLC
Isn’t it funny?
We spend most of our lives working hard to achieve our professional goals, but what happens when your goal for retirement has arrived, and is suddenly front and center?
There’s tons of information out there about how to manage your career, but not a lot about how to manage the transition to ending it.
Sure, there’s the financial planning part of it. But what about the emotional and intellectual aspect to ending a career?
Many meeting professionals (Type A personalities) suddenly are at a loss as to how to make this next step. They are used to being pulled in millions of directions and know that they will crave mental stimulation. And the prospect of sitting in a rocking chair on the veranda knitting seems pretty terrifying, to say the least.
But there’s hope for an active life once your formal career has ended.
It’s called finding an encore career doing something that you enjoy but still gives you something to do.
Maybe you aren’t quite ready to delve into your retirement savings and still want to earn some spending money.
Or maybe you are being asked to retire and still need to work.
Even, perhaps, you are afraid of one big thing: boredom.
Start paving the pathway before you are at the end of the road with no directional signage in sight.
It is a dizzying experience to suddenly step off the work merry-go-round and have no clear idea of what to do next. Psychologically, it can be terrifying. And even worse: Everyone expects that since you’ve retired, you’ve got it made and are living a rollicking jolly life sipping champagne and watching sunsets.
The reality is actually darker than that.
Clinical researchers have found that many people who retire suffer from depression and anxiety, which are a direct result of losing their career identity.
So now is the time to start thinking about that encore career that allows you to translate your expertise and skills into something new and interesting.
Something perhaps you would not have otherwise attempted while in your main career.
This is where career exploration can come in. Start thinking about what you like to do or what lights your fire (in addition to the meetings industry!).
Go to a career coach. Or take a personality assessment to clarify your interests and strengths.
Then start making connections or even volunteering within those organizations.
Making inroads now can lay the groundwork to a more fulfilling future, whatever that may be. And be aware that things can and do change. If you are 10 years away from retirement, what interests you now might not in the future.
But now is the time to start experimenting so you have some kind of knowledge about potential areas to explore from which to make decisions about what to do when you do retire.
For some, though, the thought of not hitting the alarm clock five times before rolling out of bed in the darkness to get in the car and grind along in the morning commute in total darkness is a complete release. Oh, to sleep in and relax.
Even so, the lonely specter of boredom and loneliness, as well as a lack of activity can quickly bottom out in a depressed state.
The moral of this story? Go ahead and start THINKING what you want your retirement to look like. Be realistic. Understand that just like now, retirement is fraught with positives and negatives, and know what those are so you can steer clear of potential quality of life issues.
And then make it happen.
