Redefining Your Expectations for Life after Retirement

Changing your expectations

Have you ever said it?

“Well, if I could do all over again…” 

Well, we can’t do it over, can we? But…now that we’re retired, maybe it’s time to try some new things? This can be referred to as “Redefining life after retirement.”

Are you a golfer? I’m not, but now that I’m retired, I have every opportunity to give it a try…if I want to.

As retirees, we’ve all experienced countless changes through life. According to Elizabeth Perry, ACC, our lives are lived in stages. That, again, is nothing new to us. However, what we to often do is get stuck in one of those stages, and life becomes “just another day,” day after day.

Flash back to 1961 and the show Dr. Ben Casey (back when every patient had a ‘subdural hematoma’). Do you recall the opening monolog?

We all follow patterns as we pass through these stages of life, seemingly forced into thinking that we have to accept what is handed to us. But, do we?

Example: If, while in a crowd of people, they all begin screaming and running in a certain direction; do you wait to ‘see’ what they are running from? Or would you follow along until you’re sure there is no longer a danger?

Humanity’s ‘lemming’ nature seemingly drives us to follow what everyone else appears to be successful at. After all, they seem happy, having a good time, enjoying life. But will whatever is apparently keeping them happy, necessarily going to work for you?

It’s a difficult habit to break, i.e., following the crowd. So stop the ‘traditional’, and look at the practical, Pragmatism: taking a realistic look at what’s in front of you, and most especially after retirement.

Chelcey Adami, in an August 16th, 2022 article in the Stanford Report states that life expectancy in the U.S. has increased more in the 20th century than in all the prior millennia combined with as many as half of today’s 5-year-olds expected to live to 100 in the U.S.

“Get busy livin, or get busy dyin!”

Did you ever see the movie: The Shawshank Redemption? Morgan Freeman’s advice to Tim Robbins: ‘Get busy living, or get busy dying!’ It’s a reminder to take control of your life and pursue your passions; new successes, a new life.

With more people now living closer to the centenarian years, what will happen to the expected age for retirement?

According to Internet sources:

The full retirement age for Social Security benefits is 67 for those born in 1960 or later. The official full retirement age was 65 for many years but has been gradually increasing since 1983 due to increased life expectancies.

But more importantly, regardless of the age at which you retire: a longer life span means “redefining one’s purpose.”

So, let’s say you retired at 65, and you ‘accidentally’ live to be 100, What do you do with the next 35 years of life? Or maybe you only make it 10, 20, or 25 years! That’s a long time and it needs to be lived.  (See the article, Remembering Ed Vrona)

So, then, when you say, ‘If I had it to do all over again,’ the truth is—you ‘sort-of’ do, don’t you?

Retirement is not the END of life, just the end of a career, and can be turned into an opportunity for an entirely new beginning.

“If only I could go back knowing what I know now?”

Another famous quote of the aging. That is where the adage was born: “Youth is wasted on the young.” You have gained a lifetime of experience and knowledge, so now is the opportunity to put it to use.

(If you will permit me to use myself as an example.) There was once a series on television called, The Waltons (1972-1981). Perhaps you recall it? The main character in that series was John Junior, aka John Boy. Well, I saw myself within that character. All of my life I wanted to spin yarns and write stories, i.e., I wanted to be a writer. Life held other things far more important ahead of that, like working to care of a wife and four children, and I was not able to do that as a wanna-be writer.

But, here I am at age 73, finally living my dream.

A recent Stanford Report said:

” “Every person approaches their transitions with different interests and needs, and they’re not just going to happen at 20 and 60. …” —Katie Connor , Executive Director, Distinguished Careers Institute”

In the article, an example of an 80-year-old woman said:

“One student took a writing course in her 80s and published her first children’s novel at 91, Deitz said. More than 60 percent of Continuing Studies students have advanced degrees, and they often embody the spirit of lifelong learners.”

Is going back to school necessary? Only if you want to!

The featured image at the top, is a Pennsylvania man (my big brother) who was a sign painter and designer. He was born in 1938 which puts him well into his 80s. He’s an inspiration to me, and example of what a retiree can do with his or her life.

As he gradually worked his way into full retirement in his 70’s, he began “pickin and grinnin” with a bunch of good-old-boys in the small Florida town of Pomona Park, just a frog-hop from Crescent City, population: 1700, give or take a critter or two.

Even now, despite his failing hearing and wobbly knees…he loads his guitar, amp, and microphone into his car and visits the nearby nursing homes, veterans homes, coffee shops, and various other small venues to pick and sing for whoever will listen. He loves to play that “old timey music.” Why, because he always wanted to, and now he can.

So, whether it’s a ‘do-over,’ or ‘a new beginning,’ it’s up to you.

It’s not a matter of more education, although that opportunity is there, and it’s not a matter of talent or training, but it is a matter of whatever your passion and desire to accomplish dictates, and your circumstances allow.

You ain’t dead yet, and you ain’t gonna be, if you chose to keep living! 

Can you—and will you—use that passion and this opportunity to finally pursue the things you’ve always dreamed of? It’s that passion, that desire to accomplish new things that you can and should pursue. Perhaps that drive will make you the next centenarian, like Ed Vrona.

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