If I say
"retirement," what are the first few words that come to your mind?
If they are religion
and prayer, leisure, relaxation, comfort, grandchildren, pension, surplus time,
health, golf, foot stool in front of a nice comfortable reclining chair and old
age, you're thinking about yesterday's retirement. Our “retired life will most probably,
with good health, be as long as our working life.
As we reach the age of
superannuation or retirement, I see so many of friends becoming insecure and
afraid of becoming irrelevant. When it is time to retire, we forget what we
told ourselves. What has changed in the last three decades that we are afraid
to slow down or pace of work or recognize that our minds and bodies are ageing?
According to the 2010
census of India, there are over 58 million people (28 million men and 30
million women) above the age of 65 and these numbers are increasing as our
population gets older. It is estimated that this number will increase to 76
million people over 65 years by 2020.
Our first 25 years are
spent growing up, experiencing an introduction to the realities of what it
means to become an adult and getting educated as we prepare as best we can to
enter the “real world.” The next 30-40 years are spent working for a living, paying
the bills and raising a family. And
hopefully the final years, our second act, will be spent retired from the
stresses and challenges that we have somehow managed to survive to this point.
To me, life begins at
retirement!
This is the 21st
century, when the todays 60 year old looks and feels like yesterday’s 40 year
old where retiring means a long life, new opportunities, excitement, challenge,
and self-discovery.. So therefore, on a lighter note, you should feel exactly
as you did twenty years ago!
After a long and busy
career, one of the best perquisites of retiring can be the realisation you are
no longer tied to a strict schedule. Whereas our work days were most probably
driven by meetings and appointments with inflexible time requirements, once
retired, we begin to have control over our time. We have more freedom to
decide what we want to do and when we want to do it. We are able to
make changes on the spur of the moment as we see fit. We need not tie our days
to a routine that is other than how we want to spend our time.
Do the things you were
not able to while working
Do you remember a time
during your career when you felt buried in work with no hope of getting back on
top of things? Free time was non-existent as you put in hour after stressful
hour to get the job done. As a retiree, you don’t have to do that anymore. If
you were unable to travel like you hoped to, you now can. If you had
no time for your kids, or perhaps now grandkids, you have plenty of time now.
Don’t miss the chance to take advantage of your situation.
Do nothing and do not
feel guilty about it
For new retirees, free
time can be a bit scary. You have lived your life being driven by your daily
schedule, running to and from meetings and working towards achieving your
goals, established by someone else.
If you are not
accustomed to enjoying your time you might feel guilty, like you should be doing
something productive. Your daily E Mails will reduce dramatically and in the
early days after retirement you will keep looking at your smartphone or your
computer for an E Mail that you need to respond to immediately. This is a
withdrawal symptom of your work.
It can take some
getting used to, but try to cut yourself some slack. Retired life can be your
chance to experience a life that is free of stress and without deadlines. After
years of paying your dues to your employer, you should be entitled to enjoy
your freedom.
Revisit what you may
have been passionate about while younger
I have always loved
writing, and plan to focus more on that particular passion when I retire.
Perhaps your passion is a would-be musician, an adventurer, a photographer or an
artist. Hobbies, adventures, new experiences and new friends are all available
now that you are the master of your time. Of course, the effort has to be made
by you. Nothing in life ever comes easy!
You will find that you have
much greater degree of freedom under your control. You don't have to do
anything but do what you please to do. You will have to redefine retirement to
mean “Reaching a stage in life when one has the freedom to do what one wants.”
I am reminded of an old poem I read some time back:
At ten, we have just fun
At twenty, we are still naughty
At thirty, we think lofty
At forty, we get shifty
At fifty, we confront reality
At, sixty, we seek serenity
Author - Unknown
Retirement is not the
end of the world.
It is the beginning of
a new and more fulfilling life without the stresses and strains, the pulls and
pressures we had when we were young. We may have looked forward to retirement
but a fulfilling retirement will not just happen. You have to plan for it and
you have to plan by including the most important person in your life, your
spouse. Unless both of you are in agreement with your plans, prepare for
dissonance in both your lives.
*******************
The author is the founder Chairman of
Guardian Pharmacies and the author of 5 best-selling books, Reboot. Reinvent.
Rewire: Managing Retirement in the 21st Century; The Corner Office; An Eye for
an Eye; The Buck Stops Here - Learnings of a #Startup Entrepreneur and The Buck
Stops Here – My Journey from a Manager to an Entrepreneur.
Twitter: @gargashutosh
Instagram: ashutoshgarg56
Blog: ashutoshgargin.wordpress.com |
ashutoshgarg56.blogspot.com
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