Are you looking forward to retirement?

Many people look forward to the release from having to work for someone else or even a faceless corporate organisation. They look forward to the freedom from having to do what someone else wants them to do, and list most of the benefits they're looking forward to in sentences starting “I won't have to . . . “ and so on.

Sounds good, whatever you did in your role at work won't be your responsibility anymore. Someone else will carry the can. But is this really something to look forward to?

You see when it comes to the crunch, it doesn't quite work out ‘right’ from this point of view. Although the responsibilities of the job had gone, they leave a massive void in your life. And there will always be the worry your successors will make a hash of it, undo the good work you've done over the past years, or alternatively do the job you were doing ‘better’ in some way.

The Myth of Retirement

As a society we've created this myth of ‘retirement’. What we mean by it is ‘no longer being required to be in paid employment’, a rosy future of freedom based on a pension from the state and from your previous employer together with any ‘life savings’ you've managed to put by ‘for a rainy day’.

Retirement isn't as simple as people think. When it was invented in the last century it usually lasted less than 10% of the average lifetime. Now it's more like 30% or more and we have to look at it differently.

As a transition coach I can help you figure out how to really get to grips with this important third stage of your life.