Post Career Occupation

With the economy and job market in its spiral, not knowing if it's going back up or down, I am rethinking my "retirement plan."

After spending thirty plus years building a career and a bank account, I woke up one morning to find them both gone. Well, not completely; the memory lingers. But the substance of both is fading away. I have spent these many years "living to work". I was my career. I never thought about retirement. I never imagined myself not working; at something. And, the work didn't necessarily mean making money.

I was a "cheap date". My employers really did get more than they were paying for. I know that now and I am perfectly fine with that. I am willing to do the same again, in my retirement.

That's right - retirement. I contend that the "new retirement" is "working to live" and not the other way around. Since I have to keep working through, into and around retirement (until that final retirement we call death), I am going to do something that I love and that I love everyday. It will be a job; not a career; it will be my avocation; it will be fun and fulfilling.

It will be something I can be passionate about while I'm doing it, but not so consuming that I can't leave it at the door. It will be something that will provide me with a steady income, but not bonuses upon bonuses that will keep me tethered to the office. It will be something that gives me repletion, but not something that sucks the life out of me. In my retirement, the company store no longer owns my soul.

Do you know how my friend Webster defines retirement? Being retired: withdrawing from work or business because of advanced age; drawing back from contact with others; being in a place of privacy or seclusion; to withdraw from use. As any "old geezer" would say: poppycock! That was never the plan!


The "retirement plan" included increased time for leisure activities with family and friends; meeting new people; seeing new places; taking up art or music and reading that stack of books. Does that sound like being withdrawn from use? There's work to be done and we have the experience and knowledge to do it.

I am not entering retirement any time soon. I am entering my "post career occupation".