“Find a penny, pick it up.
And all the day, you'll have good luck.”
I was sitting in a room this morning waiting for my job interview to begin when I looked down and saw a shiny new penny lying on the floor at my feet. Immediately this child's ditty ran through my head. Sitting alone, I bent over to pick it up and set it on the coffee table. I thought if I put it in my pocket that bad luck might follow. I knew this was a good omen for me and as it turned out, I was hired on the spot before the interview ended.
For many months I have struggled with my retirement lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, it has been wonderful beyond my wildest dreams. Yet I seem to have great difficulty believing and saying that I am retired. So many questions! How come it has turned out this way for me? Dare I say privileged? Why have I made the decisions that I have? Why have I been unable to call this time I have been unemployed, retirement?
I picked up a book from the New and Noteworthy section of the library called What Color Is Your Parachute For Retirement Now For The Rest Of Your Life, by Richard N. Bolles and John E. Neilson.
In the first few pages of the book I read the following quotation which seemed to put into perspective so many things I have been struggling with.
“So whereas the traditional concept of retirement planning was primarily about money,
more realistic approach now also gives equal weight to health and happiness.” and
“Retirement planning is changing in another way too. Our parents and grandparents were
mostly focused on how to retire 'from something' – their job. For you, though,
retirement planning can focus on retiring TO something – your next stage of life.”
Basically, the book explains the life stages as follows; education as a time of self development and no freedom. Next we enter the life stage of work and productivity and still little freedom. The third stage of life is retirement with it's leisure and freedom. It is a journey towards freedom. Yes, that is it! The book suggests that we want to do more than survive retirement – we want to thrive in our retirement.
Nursing allowed me to gain some insight into these different stages of life. I loved having one on one conversations with my patients. Over time, I noticed a common theme throughout the senior citizens; REGRET. “If I had it to do over...”, “it wasn't suppose to be like this...”, “getting old is not for the faint of heart..”, and “I wish I would have done this ten years ago.”
One particular quiet patient sat on the edge of his bed as I dutifully advised him on healthy living lifestyles. After a moment he asked me if he could give me a piece of advise. Sure, I said, “Simply,don't wait to do those things you want for retirement. Do them now because you never know what retirement has in store for you. My retirement has been a great disappointment with my poor health, an ill wife, and no desire and energy to do those things I always wanted too.”
It was a pivotal moment in my life. My mom and dad both died at a relatively young age, 64 and 66 respectively. His advise rang a warning in me that I had always knew since my parents' early death.
Many new terms are out there for retirement; the new retirement, Re – firement, Re – wirement, rest of life, the second half of life, the third age, and maybe even unretirement. However you choose to label it, it can be a time of great health and happiness as I have found out.
To that end, I decided to work this temporary almost full time job to continue to enjoy those things that I have embraced as my next stage of life. I have not gone back to work as an R.N (much to the puzzlement of Bill and the person who hired me). I seem to have a need to change things up from time to time. I am going to work as a Clerk II in the mass immunization clinics. I will be the front line worker prior to the administration of the flu shot. Since I have been told that a change is a good as a rest, this should fulfill that part. I start next week and it finishes early December. Working three months a year is a dream come true. Yet again I am blessed in ways that I cannot explain.
“If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.”
Joseph Campbell
WKH
Monday, August 27, 2007
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4 comments:
BEAUTIFUL! beautiful. oh mom- congratulations! i'm so proud of you, and i look up to you for guidance and inspiration as I too attempt to "follow [my] bliss". bless you mom. i think you will enjoy the change of scenery and the pleasure of a new job that has a set contract term. the freedom this opens up can really take the pressure off of you....off of whether you like it or not, off of good days and bad days... and will certainly open up all other kinds of opportunities for this kind of work in the future- If, and When you choose! good work mom. love, jackie
Jackie, I thank you for your very kind words. Some things just feel right and I have learned to listen to my instincts. This is one of them. I'm really looking forward to working a contract.
Mom
Turtle lady, thank you for your encouraging comments on Parachute for Retirement. You seem to be living a wonderful example of an engaged retirement. Please consider sharing some of your comments by posting a review on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com. Thanks again!
John Nelson
John Nelson
Please accept my apologies for spelling your name wrong.
I will consider writing a review.
I have found Parachute For Retirement an insightful book that I will continue to go back to from time to time.
WKH
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