There’s No Time Like the Present: Redefine Your Expectations for Life and Retirement

Change your expectations

How many of us, do you think, have said: “Well, if I could do all over again, I would”

If you’re like me, you’ve probably experienced countless changes throughout your life. According to Elizabeth Perry, ACC, our lives are lived in stages, which is nothing new to the retiree. Flash back to 1961 and the show Dr. Ben Casey (a bit of nostalgia: it seemed like every patient had a ‘subdural hematoma’). Do you recall the opening monolog?

By nature, we fall into patterns or stages of life that seem to force us into what’s ‘supposed to be, and we simply have to accept what is handed to us. Still, we do not have to follow the patterns of others, do we? The lemming nature of humanity drives us to follow what everyone else is doing. After all, they seem happy, having a good time, enjoying life. But is what makes them happy going to necessarily work for everyone?

Following the crowd is a difficult habit to break; perhaps THE most difficult. So stop the ‘traditional’, and look at the practical, pragmatic, i.e., 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.

Think about this! If people are beginning to live to be 100, where will that put the retirement age? 75? 80? More importantly, 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? So maybe it’s only 10, 20, or 25 years! It’s life, and it needs to be lived.  (See the article, Remembering Ed Vrona)

Get busy living, or get busy dying!

As The Shawshank Redemption famously advises: ‘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.

When you say, ‘If I had it to do all over again,’ the truth is—you somewhat 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 I could go back and start over knowing what I know now?”

That is where the adage was born: “Youth is wasted on the young.” You have gained a lifetime of experience and knowledge, so put it to use. If you will, permit me to use myself as an example. There was 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. All of my life I wanted to emulate that character. It was my desire to just sit and spin yarns and stories about life, i.e., I wanted to be a writer. Well, here I am at age 73, finally living that dream.

As the Stanford Report article points out:

” “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”

An example pointed out in the article was of an 80-year-old woman:

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.

Back to school! No, not necessary.

The man in the featured image was a sign painter and designer, born in 1938, now well into his 80s. Before fully retiring in his 70’s, he began pickin and grinnin with a bunch of good-old-boys in the small Florida town that he and his family have called home for the past few decades. 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.”

As for myself: sitting next to my desk is a trumpet, clarinet, two guitars, and the amps and microphone; seldom used, but ready and waiting. I even took a job at the local hospital for a year, just to see if I could be of help. Yet another experience that added to my knowledge and reinforced my compassion for others.

Is it a ‘do-over,’ or ‘a new beginning.’

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.

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.