After retiring from the financial planning business, I became very aware of an emptiness inside. I asked myself: "If I am what I do, then who am I when I don't?" I succeeded in retiring from owning a business, but I was not prepared to "retire to" something.
One of the first challenges of ReFirement is to identify what to "retire to". How do I create purpose and meaning in my life if I have been consumed by my profession for 40+ years? Answering this question started my self-discovery journey.
The "7th Inning Stretch" is a time for me to contemplate and begin again to live the life that is true to my values. I suggest that you begin your own journey by identifying your core values. One of the values that Paula and I have embraced our entire life is "making a contribution to others." We facilitated a personal growth workshop called the Aspen Temenos The work was very fulfilling but physically exhausting. We stopped offering the workshop after 25 successful years. Note to self: "making a difference" in the lives of other people needs to be a key ingredient in my ReFirement.
The next stop on the self-discovery journey was a honest assessment of what unique abilities Paula & I have as a couple. We have worked side by side for over 35 years. The most important thing that you can do to change your game from retirement to ReFirement is to understand, access, and engage your unique capabilities. What could we do together that is an expression of our uniqueness that also has the potential to make a difference in the lives of others?
Our Answer
One of the first challenges of ReFirement is to identify what to "retire to". How do I create purpose and meaning in my life if I have been consumed by my profession for 40+ years? Answering this question started my self-discovery journey.The "7th Inning Stretch" is a time for me to contemplate and begin again to live the life that is true to my values. I suggest that you begin your own journey by identifying your core values. One of the values that Paula and I have embraced our entire life is "making a contribution to others." We facilitated a personal growth workshop called the Aspen Temenos The work was very fulfilling but physically exhausting. We stopped offering the workshop after 25 successful years. Note to self: "making a difference" in the lives of other people needs to be a key ingredient in my ReFirement.
The next stop on the self-discovery journey was a honest assessment of what unique abilities Paula & I have as a couple. We have worked side by side for over 35 years. The most important thing that you can do to change your game from retirement to ReFirement is to understand, access, and engage your unique capabilities. What could we do together that is an expression of our uniqueness that also has the potential to make a difference in the lives of others?
Our Answer
- We decided to start this blog and share our thoughts, challenges, highs, and lows of this transition to the final innings of the game in the hope that we will inspire and encourage others.
- We adopted a process, as Retirement Coaches, to help other people embark on their path to a happy, and fulfilling transition to ReFirement. Check out the blog tab entitled "ReFirement Coaching" for more details.
- We have learned how to use 5 tools to help people get started on conversations about: What do you want the next stage of your life to feel like? What changes do you anticipate? What are you excited about and what do you fear most? What are the key values that you want to guide your life?
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