Embrace life’s transitions instead of imagining you will never experience a particular transition. I point out to prospective clients that retirement is just another one of life’s many transitions. Most of my clients and contemporaries have progressed somewhat effortlessly through life’s earlier transitions. They left home at 18 years old, went to college, and graduated. Then they found their first job, got married, had children, and settled into a career. However, despite their earlier success with making difficult life transitions, the idea of retirement has left many anxious and fearful.
It is interesting to contrast our generation’s experience with transitions going on in our children and grandchildren’s generation. After college most of us struck out on our own by getting our own apartment. That is almost unheard of today as a large percentage of college graduates move back into their old bedroom or other shared quarters, thanks to skyrocketing housing prices. The “40 Year Old Virgin” and “Failure to Launch” are two movies illustrating this younger generation’s inability to successfully move (out) to the next stage of life. Our generation made these transitions somewhat effortlessly before or did so even though it was a struggle. Now it is time to be successful at doing it again. What’s holding you back?
Jump!
Charles Gibson was interviewed about his retirement and relayed his initial resistance to it as feeling as though it was like “jumping off a cliff.” But, he went on to say that he later realized that in his lifetime, he had jumped several times before. At each of life’s transitions, we “jump” in a sense – to a new marriage, to having children, to living in another place, to a new job. Each transition can be daunting, but we must keep moving forward to experience, to grow, to live. Mr. Gibson further said that once he moved from his initial dread of what he was leaving and changed his focus on what was to come, his resistance changed to anticipation of great things.
I encourage you to begin this transition with a new mindset. Consider retirement not as an ending but a new beginning with many opportunities to discover more about yourself than you ever knew was possible.
To embrace life’s transitions and get started on the road to retirement, consider the following questions:
• What would stop you from retiring tomorrow if money wasn’t an issue?
• What are your fears about retirement and how will you face these fears?
• Can you imagine starting a new career after you retire from your current career?
• What skills have you used in other transitions that you can use in your retirement transition?
• How would you rate your current life satisfaction and your projected life satisfaction?
When you can answer these questions honestly, you will be more ready to let go of your current situation and move on to this next exciting stage.
If you aren’t quite ready to embrace life’s transitions and need some coaching before you jump into your next phase, please give me a call. As I mentioned in “Why do people refuse to retire?,” there are options and opportunities waiting for you.