We live in a world that often treats retirement as the end of productivity. We step away from the world of work, close the door, and are expected to slow down. If we are fortunate, the work we leave behind has been a passion. For some, that is true.
But for many of us, work has simply been a necessity. Bills must be paid, and inflation is constant, with the cost of living on a relentless upward cycle. We adapt because we have to. I cannot honestly say that every job I have had was driven by passion. In my experience, the world of work rarely offers that.
I’m getting closer to what is officially called retirement. The good thing is I do not feel my age.
So what then should retirement be?
As the years move on, and the date gets closer, the question feels less theoretical and more personal. Regardless of how old I may feel, my age requires that I think more about it now. It’s like having a little devil on my shoulder telling me that time is moving on and my choices going forward are limited. It reminds me that time is passing and choices might be narrowing.
Awareness focuses the mind.
For many, retirement conjures images of days of leisure, relaxation, and freedom from the previous work routine. A routine of five days a week, getting up, going to work, and nine to ten hours later getting home, comes to an end.
Traditionally, retirement meant stepping back for good. Once you retire, that is it. No more work. But things are changing now, and not necessarily in a positive way. For one, we are living longer, but often those later years are ones where health matters, for both body and mind, and can become more of a problem.
In recent times, the retirement age has been going up in many countries, simply because people living longer has become less affordable for the state. And people are not always in a position to save for their retirement, or have a generous private pension.
Retirement is no longer the short chapter it once was; provided you are healthy, it can now stretch for decades. That is a lot of time to fill. Fortunately, I am doing well when it comes to health and fitness. But for many, health issues take their toll once we reach our sixties and seventies.
And there are two things about the future that I know with absolute certainty.
The first is that at some point I will reach the end of the road. It happens to all of us!
The second is something that creeps up on us, but is part of the economic and financial system. The price of everything, thanks to inflation, will be higher in ten years’ time, much higher in twenty years time, and heaven knows how much higher in thirty years.
It is guaranteed both of these will happen.
The question is whether I will live long enough, and if I do, is it affordable? It is a question that many who face retirement, now have to ask.
Thankfully, leaving aside money, I do have at least two “passions” to keep me going.
Writing and gardening.
I have even combined the two, writing about the garden. Writing is a passion that arrived later in life. Gardening has always been there, depending on circumstance and if I had a garden. When I haven’t got one, I miss it.
Thankfully, I have one now.
Whether it’s writing, gardening, or any other pursuit, engaging in activities that ignite our enthusiasm brings a purpose to life, as we age. Our responsibilities may change, but the desire to continue to do something that gives us a sense of purpose remains.
By pursuing that desire, retirement takes on a different meaning.
Writing became important to me later in life. I did not begin with the certainty that it was a “calling”. All those years ago at school, I found writing to be a chore. It was something, like maths, that I had to do. I confess, I did not excel.
But as I got older, I found writing again. When I wrote Son of My Father, I found that I enjoyed writing stories, and I’ve been doing it ever since. Storytelling is something I like to do.
And you can never truly retire from a passion, but it is important to find out what it is, as we start a new chapter in life.
As we age, our passion can be something that fuels a new creativity and keeps us motivated. We are allowed to discover a new enthusiasm for life, even if we are sixty, seventy, or older. We can always begin again. There is the available to do it.
It helps to keep us going.
It is never too late to pursue a passion.
Details of my published books can be found via this link.
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
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