Coping with uncertainty has become the norm these days. Planning for the future—at any life stage, including retirement—can be challenging right now. However, you can envision your future if you trust your process and keep a healthy perspective.
As a retirement coach, I encourage as much lifestyle planning as possible before retirement. Take the time to imagine how you want to spend the 40 to 60 hours of every week you devoted to your career. Plan to use the strengths, the skills, the interests, and the values you have cultivated throughout your life.
Coping with uncertainty is part of our boomer generation’s history. Our sheer numbers—78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964—meant there were always questions like “Where will we find enough classrooms and teachers for these children?” and “How can I find affordable housing for my family?”
Fortunately, we are also the generation that delighted in creating something new and better for the collective whole, supporting each other, and responding with resilience. We ourselves enjoyed improvements like dishwashers, microwaves, and color televisions. We also faced a wide variety of challenges as individuals and as a nation: the divisiveness of the Vietnam War and the fight for civil rights, assassinations of leaders JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., the economic crashes of 1989 and 2007, and the terrorist attacks of 2001 and 2021. Through it all, we continued planning for the future, coping with uncertainty.
Let’s continue to be a role model of strength, resilience, and unity for future generations. As we cope with uncertainty about retirement and the future, we know we have our knowledge, life experience, skills, strengths, values, and wisdom to use for ourselves and for the good of others.
Many of us are coping with uncertainty by asking:
• Who can I help?
• How can I help and still stay safe?
• Is there a cause I believe needs my support right now?
I see people
• Organizing friends and family to help those with food insecurities
• Donating gently used items to those in need
• Listening with more empathy
• Volunteering in new ways (by phone and over the Internet)
• Expressing gratitude more often
• Practicing self-care (long walks, meditation) so they can take care of others
May you find healthy ways of coping with uncertainty as you face retirement.