One of my favourite topics with friends and colleagues is when we share our greatest fears in life. This is when the laughter begins, and we start to tease each other. Some of the concerns shared over time have been the fear of spiders, birds, butterflies, heights, small, enclosed spaces, flying, dogs, cats, public speaking, being successful, taking a chance on life, and the obvious one is death. Regardless of what generation you may belong to, many of the same fears exist. The biggest fear that many people feel but may not talk about is the fear of retirement. Many people believe that retirement is simply another name for death or the end of your life. Often people don't want to stop working, no matter how much they may hate their jobs because they fear they will sit in front of a television and become invisible.
So, what does retirement mean to you? Is it something that you dread or look forward to reaching? For me, retirement is an excellent opportunity to do all the things you love doing but didn't have the time to truly explore. Retirement is the most fun time I have ever experienced because I can do whatever I want. It's a great feeling to pull back from all the things you never enjoyed doing on a job or remove yourself from all the negative people that you had to work with on a project for too long. For many years I facilitated training sessions to help the 50+ community discuss, prepare, research, and plan for their retirement. Retirement is different for everyone, and it takes a lot of thinking to design your plan. Many people worry about having enough money to retire or if they will outlive the money they have saved.
The closer I got to the age of retirement the more excited I became about writing the next chapter of my life. In my opinion, retirement is an opportunity to keep exploring and reinventing oneself to do all the things you never had time to do or things that you prevented yourself from trying to achieve. Many of my colleagues created bucket lists of all the things they wanted to try. Sometimes, we suppress our true talents or believe that we are not good enough. Often, people, even our so-called friends may give us negative feedback that may discourage us from pursuing our dream. I think of this as a mind fuck designed to stop all of us in our path. The key is to believe in yourself and to follow your dream.
Last year, in 2021, I developed a training idea to help people of all ages to take a closer look at retirement. Early on in 2019, I tested my ideas by providing workshops to young children, high school students, college students, and members of the 50+ communities. Initially, I thought that no one would be interested except those ready to enter retirement. I soon discovered that I was wrong. Regardless of age, everyone was interested and used the information in a different way. In a brief conversation with 10-year-old students about planning ahead, I was surprised by how interested they were in talking about what they wanted to do when they grew up. The next day I was bombarded with phone calls from their parents. Totally freaked out, I wanted to run and hide, feeling that I had done something wrong. When in fact, parents were calling to thank me for getting their children thinking about what they wanted to achieve in life and how they would do so. Parents demanded that I facilitate workshops for them too. The same process was done with college students that were thrilled to receive tips on planning their next chapter after college, which can be the most difficult time for students desiring to enter the job market. Adults were equally thrilled and came ready to create their next stage of life. Working with communities of color was my greatest reward because it created an awareness of so many possibilities.
I called my training design, Flourish: What would you like to do with your life? Flourish is a program for anyone who wants to make positive changes in their life, regardless of who they are. Our world is full of possibilities if we are willing to peek around the corner or turn the page. We have new passions to pursue, work that’s rewarding, people to connect with, and healthier lifestyles to pursue. Sometimes you know exactly what you want and how to get it, and other times the answer isn’t clear or feels impossible to achieve. Looking ahead with curiosity and courage can make our lives fun and full of possibilities. Flourish was designed to motivate participants to navigate the next chapter of their life.
Flourish also helped me to take a closer look at myself. It encouraged me to walk the talk so that honest stories could be shared to motivate others in planning their next chapter in life. Retirement has a negative impact on the minds of many people. I like to call retirement a rejuvenation of life, it's a time to create who you are now and where you want to be. It's the most incredible feeling.
In 2000, I created a public relations and marketing firm designed to help multi-cultural communities that were ignored by mainstream PR and marketing agencies because they could not afford their fees. In doing so, I was committed to representing community-based organizations and non-profit agencies to help them to develop community engagement activities, social media & marketing campaigns and taught them how to tell their stories to the media. I also trained them on how to manage their own campaigns and to understand the process. Being in the age of Rejuvenation, I love my work more than ever before because I choose the people and organizations that I desire to work with, instead of working with horrible people just for the dollar. It's the greatest feeling in the world to say 'No' thank you with the biggest smile ever but let me refer you to a few other agencies or people that may be able to assist you.
You see, Flourish really helped me. Pushing forward with Flourish came to a temporary halt because of COVID, but I am looking at places and people that will benefit from what I can offer. One of the key discussion group questions from the Flourish workshop about looking ahead is, "What would push you out of your comfort zone, making it possible to throw caution to the wind, taking a risk to try something new? Also, I would ask participants to complete the sentence, If I could do anything, I would... Then we would start planning and developing a Rejuvenation timeline looking at things we would like to work on in the next 3, 6, 9, and 12 months and what's needed to get started.
So, once you create a rejuvenation plan, it's essential to focus on all those things money can't buy. Studies show that a few happy habits can improve life satisfaction in retirement.
Work at staying healthy and active. Walking on a beautiful day can be a great incentive to get your body moving.
Build or create strong social relationships with those that you trust.
Discover a clear sense of purpose. Ask yourself what am I grateful for today or what was the best part of my day?
Never stop learning. Often when people leave their jobs, they simply stop all activities that can lead to learning and trying new things. Challenging your brain with mental exercise is believed to activate processes that help maintain individual brain cells and stimulate communication among them.
Enjoy life. It's great to take an interest in things around you, such as visiting art galleries, exploring new restaurants, seeing a good theatre performance, or taking a class with like-minded people. It's an opportunity to expand your circle of friends.
Many people are not into meditation, but if you are, it's another way to practice being grateful through mindful meditation. There are many free apps available online that help you to start and end your day with a smile.
So, are you ready for an exciting life of Rejuvenation? Then it's time to start planning to have fun with others in your life. The outcome may surprise you. Retire from Work, not from Life. Happy rejuvenation!
留言