AN EARLY UNEXPECTED RETIREMENT
I realized the other day that it's been SEVEN years since I left the job that had drained the last drop of my joy. I had no idea what I'd do next and who I'd be if I didn't need to schedule my life around paid work. Ultimately, I ended up spending a year or more just getting my mojo back and finding my feet again (all in the midst of the pandemic). Having the world shut down around the same time my life hit a wall gave me time to breathe and to reassess - was I between jobs or was I finished with working and ready to retire?
FIGURING OUT RETIREMENT
I think it took me a couple of years to realize that I wasn't looking to go back to work, but there was still a nagging feeling of having it end on someone else's terms and not my own. I chose to walk away, but it was because I had to rather than because I wanted to. It was like retirement had chosen me, rather than me choosing my retirement.
Around that time I found a little job advertised in our local paper (something that rarely happens in these days of online job agencies) and I put in an application with very little expectation attached to it. To my surprise, they contacted me, interviewed me, and within a week I was working again - only one day a week and for a really lovely employer. That little job gave me the opportunity to claim back my "employability" and to replace the awful job memories with some really positive ones....but life had other things in store for me.
ACCEPTING RETIREMENT
During that year or so in my new little job I had my hip replaced - with only 2 weeks off - it was super busy and I was needed. Then I had another operation appear on my horizon and I realized I didn't want to plan it around work, I'd reached a place in my mind and heart where I was ready to redefine myself without what I did for a living being part of my identity. I could leave on my own terms, with a positive outcome attached to the process.
It was a strange feeling to leave and to know that was definitely the end of being in the workforce, that I would have nothing to do all day every day....and how would that look for someone who was always busy? Would I be bored, would I need to find a pile of new hobbies? What would it all look like?
EMBRACING RETIREMENT
Well, it turns out that retirement has been the BEST thing ever. I remember when we first became grandparents and discovered how fabulous that was; retirement has been a bit like that - all these unexpected joys that are suddenly a normal part of life. All my earlier worries about not having a regular wage, or a regular timetable just went out the window. It turns out that retirement is pretty cheap, and contentment costs next to nothing.
Six months or so after I stopped working, my husband decided to retire too. We'd both crossed the line past 60 and we could access our retirement funds - so each fortnight money "magically" appears in our bank account from our superannuation fund, and with our savings on top of it, it feels like Christmas every day. The fears I had of living on a pension and needing to live on catfood were completely unfounded - we're self-funded and know that the government's age pension is always there if we ever need to claim it - what a privilege it is to live in a country where we have that back-up.
THRIVING IN RETIREMENT
So now we wake up every day to the retired life - the gift that keeps on giving. Part of me thinks I was born to be retired - the freedom, the flexibility, the contentment... it's just so pleasant. We have no big plans - and that's because we choose to have no big plans. We don't have any overseas travel destinations calling to us, we're happy to holiday locally. We're a day-trip away from some beautiful sea-change and tree-change destinations, and we have the time to visit them whenever the weather is beautiful and we feel like a drive.
Recently we visited a seaside town about an hour's drive away and sent our son the pics below - his first comment was how peaceful it all looked because they only get to see it in school holidays when it's packed with holidaying families with small children. We get to visit and holiday outside of those times - and on no-one else's agenda but our own.
When we're not holidaying, we're walking (my husband loves his beach walks), coffee-ing, reading, hobby-ing, he's volunteering (I'm still looking for somewhere new to volunteer that appeals - nothing has caught my interest yet), and generally just taking each day as it comes. We're always available for the family if they want to visit, I get to spend time with my mum each week, and I'm always free for a catch-up if someone calls. The retired life is so much more than I ever anticipated, and getting to dive in years earlier than I expected has been the absolute icing on the cake.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Have you retired yet? Is it all you expected? Are you thriving in this third phase of life, or is it still a time of adjustment? I'd love to hear what you think in the comments.
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My husband will be retiring at the end of August. He's tried it before, but wasn't ready. Now, though, he is. I'm not sure how that will look for us, but I've had a taste the last few weeks while he's been home injured.
ReplyDeleteHi Jo - I've noticed a lot of us (who aren't as multi-talented as you!) need to do retirement in a series of steps before we can truly embrace it. I think he'll love it - and you can enjoy slightly later morning walks. :)
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