Mary, a 62-year-old lady unwillingly entered retirement. She considered herself not to be old enough to retire, was worried about her income in retirement but the work contracts had dried up and she did not have the energy or motivation to upgrade her skills. She was at a very uncertain time in her life and had sought my retirement life coaching services. The first words she spoke to me were, “You have to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. There’s nothing in my life to make me want to get up.”
Mary was experiencing very mixed emotions. On one hand the fear of the unknown ahead of her, on the other a sense of curiosity and adventure. To transform to a new sense of purpose takes courage to leave behind some of our identity and what we DO to embrace a renewed sense of identity and security to create a fulfilling and meaningful life. Together Mary and I spend some time working on transforming her life from feeling unwanted and unloved to tentative first steps of a plan to create a new way of living with new goals to be achieved.
As we approach 60 years of age, we experience a heightened awareness of a looming retirement and the years ahead out of the workforce. We begin to ask questions such as,” What will give my life purpose tomorrow and the many days ahead in retirement?” A plan for life in retirement is similar to the financial plan we make to save for an income in retirement. Plans do not always unfold as we expect but A plan is better than NO plan.
