Retirement: An Opportunity For Reflection On Gratitude
A Time To Reflect
The holiday season is upon us with all of the usual excitement and activities. We are making travel plans to visit relatives, attending Thanksgiving and Christmas parties, creating menus for meals, and writing shopping lists for gifts we want to buy for our loved ones. While these are all important aspects of the holidays, it’s also a great time to reflect on and appreciate the important relationships, experiences, and accomplishments that have given our lives meaning. For me, it is one of the best times of the year. Even though I try to remember to appreciate these things all year long, being with family and friends during the holidays gives more meaning to the things I am most thankful for.
One of the things I’m always grateful for are the various careers that I’ve been privileged to have. I was excited to begin my career in education as an elementary school teacher. Being around all that energy, innocence, and enthusiasm was a gift to me when I was in my 20s. Next, the training and experience I got from working with teenagers as a high school counselor was stimulating, fun, and at times quite overwhelming. While the drama and hormones made for a lot of challenges, I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. Those teenagers taught me a lesson or two!
Being a teacher and then a high school counselor prepared me well for my next career. For almost 28 years, I have enjoyed being a psychotherapist in private practice, helping hundreds of individuals and couples. I’ve learned so much about life, people, and myself while helping my clients work through life’s challenges and transitions.
Reflections On Moving Forward
Around the time I thought I was “done” and was going to ease into retirement, it soon became apparent to me that I still had one more chapter left in my work career. I realized that I could take all the things I’ve learned over the years and apply them to a new career in coaching. I explored various related careers and found that coaching was most aligned with my skills and training. Helping people transition from work as they’ve known it to their retirement career has been fun. I am as excited about this new phase of my life as I have been about any of my previous careers.
Planning For the Seasons Of Life
Over the past six or seven years, I have come to appreciate the similarities between my various careers and the holiday season. Just like the holidays, planning for your retirement lifestyle requires a certain degree of introspection and reflection. As you look back on your career, relationships and accomplishments, try to see the bigger picture. Be grateful for who you are, where you have been, and what you have done in your life. Appreciate the value of your accomplishments in this next phase of your life. Allow all of your talents to guide the decisions that will enrich your lifestyle as you contemplate your transition to retirement.
Readers of my newsletter know that I am always on the lookout for quotes and pearls of wisdom to give me insight. Yesterday, I came across a quote by Eric Hoffer which brings perspective to the theme of this newsletter: “The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.”
Turn It Inside Out
Some people don’t take the time to reflect on the past because they may not want to remember some less than positive events in their lives. If that’s the case, turn it inside out! What can you learn from all of your experiences that will help you move forward in a positive way? Remember that embedded in some of our failures or mistakes are useful lessons that we can end up feeling grateful for. After all, even dark clouds can have silver linings. All of your experiences, both positive and negative, will help you get a better idea as to how you want to live your life in retirement.
When I am doing seminars with clients, I often ask them to reflect on the things they will miss about their work experience. I’ve learned that some people are often so burned out that it makes it easier for them to leave by focusing on the negative. However, it is much healthier and constructive to remember the things that they liked about work. When you do this exercise, remember all of the things you learned, the long-term friends you made, or just the simple fact that your work provided the means to support your family.
I also ask them to reflect with gratitude on their work and life experiences so that they can weave them into the tapestry of their retirement lifestyle. This is true especially when you take those special gifts and use them to try something completely different. This is exactly how I became a retirement coach!
Gratitude is not just about what we have. It is also about who we are and what we bring to the table in terms of our life experiences, strengths, talents, limitations, and challenges. These are all opportunities for growth.
Live by your actions because the next generation is watching you. You want them to be grateful for what they learned from you in all aspects of their lives. Since this is the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s death, I’d like to share one of his quotes: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.”
I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday filled with gratitude and reflection.
Make the best of your life for the rest of your life with gratitude and appreciation for who you are and all you have in your life.
Dee
Dee Cascio
Author, speaker, Licensed Psychotherapist, Certified Life Coach, Retirement Lifestyle/ReCareer Coach, and Life and Work Transitions Strategies Coach.
The Life and Work Transitions Community
You’ve joined a great group — people who plan to make successful transitions in life and work. May you be inspired to use your strengths and skills to grow in this season and may each transition be your best ever.
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Ready To Retire? Successful Retirement Planning To Make The Best Of The Rest Of Your Life
