Denial is not that river in Egypt. It’s that little small voice inside of us that acknowledges the potential dangers and pitfalls but then says, “It won’t happen to me.” It might happen to someone else, a neighbor, a friend, a coworker, anyone else, but not me. This is a pretty clear sign of denial. Whenever change enters your life, whether invited or imposed, it should prompt a time of honest assessment. Can it happen to me? What will happen if it does?
Life Change Ahead
As you begin to contemplate that new season of life most people call retirement, I prefer your Encore!, please understand that there is a great amount of change ahead. Whatever it is that consumes a good portion of your waking hours and compensates you for it, usually disappears the day you leave employment. As exciting as that sounds to you, as the old saying goes, buyer beware.
Leaving your career is a big change! All too often, many people enter this new season of life with faulty expectations, unprepared for and without a clear understanding of what lies ahead just around the corner. This is where a cavalier attitude and denial sometimes enter the equation.
You begin to think, your retirement is going to be picture-perfect. Not like your cousin Bill, your former coworker Annie or any of the other people you know that are having a hard time with it. Your retirement is going to be ideal. How can it not be? You have been anticipating it for years, you’ve saved diligently, you’re ready to be freed from the shackles of your work commitment, your responsibilities, and more than ready to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Retire From – Retire To
I hear you, trust me I hear you. I know you are different, however, statistics tell us that a large number of the people get to this point and are so focused on what they are retiring from, that they neglect giving serious consideration to what they are retiring to.
Unfortunately, just because you believe a successful, perfect retirement will happen, doesn’t necessarily make it so. In this case, belief without appropriate action may be nothing more than a wishful daydream. In your career you excelled at what you did, probably because you were intentional about being successful.
When it comes to this next season of your life, you need to be equally as intentional and disciplined about planning for the lifestyle that you desire. As you look ahead, how will the changes in your relationships, your daily routine, sense of purpose, finances and your activities impact you?
You may find these questions relatively easy to address and implement. Or you might find them challenging and difficult to deal with. Sometimes, having someone alongside you to guide you through the process may be helpful to you. If that’s the case, connect with me and we can talk about it.
Helping Baby Boomers discover their Purpose
so they can unleash its awesome Power.