For those that did, the dotcom bubble burst severely impacted our 401ks and we find we are working longer to gain what we lost. Then along came the Great Recession and the concept of working later into our 60's became more of a reality. At some point in our life we traded freedom for jobs and money, and we work and save so we can once again be free. Pretty ironic.
Putting finances aside, there is something else about retirement that we haven't planned all that well...what are we going to do with all the free time? Healthy retirees can expect to live a minimum of fifteen years past their exit from the full-time work force. With advances in medicine every year, it would seem reasonable to expect that number to climb.
For some, retirement is long looked forward to time of rest.
Others pray that they will be healthy enough to travel. For many of those people it is like the married couple in UP. The spouse you planned on doing this exciting travel with is no longer with you. Rather than travel the globe, you travel the airways binge watching some television show you didn't have time to watch when you worked.
Some people realize that this isn't what they want either. There is only so much sitting around one can do and then it gets old and there is a need to find something else to do with freedom. If we have an anticipated fifteen or more years past retirement it would be wise to plan for how we are going to use that time.
Many folk look once again to the workforce, perhaps to supplement their incomes, perhaps to stimulate their minds, perhaps simply to alleviate boredom.
I would like to suggest, and am doing myself, taking a hard look at the things you once loved but ran out of time to pursue. It is never too late to try something new, start a new career, be the change you want to see in the world.
I've often said that everyone is creative. Every one is. Your creative may not be the same as my creative. I don't sew, or knit, or crochet, but all of those are creative pursuits. I'm not a gardener or a designer of gardens and most would say I have a decidedly black thumb. There are any number of things in the creative world I am not capable of doing. But, I do what I can. I write, I sing, I paint and not all of them professionally.
Maybe somewhere along the way you've been wounded. I wrote briefly about that yesterday. Those people who've done that injury to you, those people have their own wounds that they gladly share with anyone is who actively pursuing their dreams. It is time to break away (if you haven't done so already) from the people who tell you "You can't," and find the ones that tell you, "You can!"
Perhaps your injury happened so long ago that you don't remember what you thought you wanted to do back in your youth.
I challenge you to dig into your past, move beyond the pain and see what the child you once were - to see what that child got excited and giddy about. Excavating out hurts, insults, and detractors will be difficult, perhaps even dangerous.
You'll need to practice the art of kindness, kindness that you share with yourself. You have to be willing to be "bad" or "new" in order to grow and become "good" or "experienced." After all, you've locked away this passion for a good long time.
Really can't remember what those might have been? Really can't think of anything worthy to spend your retirement time on? A great book that can assist you in uncovering hidden passions and interests is Julia Cameron's, It's Never Too Late to Begin Again - Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond.
Grandma Moses was in her mid-seventies when she began to paint.
Have a plan going in to retirement about what you are going to do with the free time you worked so hard to earn. Uncover your passion be it photography, birding, scuba diving...whatever! Prepare, purchase equipment before finances get tough, take lessons or plan to take classes in your early days of retirement and then go have fun - the kind of fun and adventures you dreamt of as a child.