Retiring - Are You A Go-Go, A Go-Slow, Or A No-Go -
The "go-go" label defines the activities, energy levels and attitudes of baby boomers. With average retirement ages dropping world-wide, many baby-boomers are focused on a brand new life - after retirement.
Are you a "go-go"?
You are retiring from work, not from life. None of that "old" label for you; in fact, you feel young. The present 55 is the new 40. You are healthy, progressive, and ready to rock-and-roll. And you know how to do it - yes you do!
The next fifteen years should be the best time of your life. You have a home, assets, and some monthly pension money rolling in.
While you are looking forward to a less structured lifestyle, your intellectual involvement with life has never been greater. You have smarts, ambition and energy to burn. Well, for some of you, maybe, not enough energy to burn. However, you plan to resume your youthful activities and exercise, which will recharge you.
You are excited about your freedom from an outer-imposed time structure. Your time will be yours to do as you please.
Right after retirement you probably will want a few months of rest and reorientation. After that, "lookout, everyone - here you come."
Without the structure of a full-time job, you have the flexibility to do what you want, when you want. You may work part-time or start another career experimenting in a new field. You might consider yourself semi-retired; often doing consulting work. You might take an uncomplicated "fun" job that interests you or create opportunities for you to express your talents in different ways.
You may still need to work a bit, but you do not want the heavy grind, responsibilities and pressure of the past. Contract work also appeals: you may work for a time, stop, and start again, and then take an extended vacation. Flexibility and freedom are your new buzz words.
Fresh projects occupy your time. You start or get back to some physical exercise. You proactively pay attention to eating well and exercising regularly, in the hope your energy will outlast you.
If you are a "go-go", you adventure forth with your big trips now. You do the more exotic expeditions with less facilities and more physical challenges. The terrain may be rougher; sleeping arrangements less than perfect, but bumping along on rickety buses or traversing rivers in old boats is alright, for now.
These excursions also mean an extended time away - perhaps for several months or even longer. You can arrive at the doorsteps of Paris or London at any time of life, but hiking up mountains, forging streams or white-water rafting is best attempted at 60, not 90.
Baby boomers that grew up in the 50's, 60's and 70's experienced the tumultuous influences that changed the world. You embraced the idea that you could do anything you wanted. While in those days it may have been rebelling against the establishment, today your focus is on reaching your dreams. You might have suppressed your ideas while you raised your kids and paid off the mortgage, but now is your time.
You feel you can attain the things you want. In the past, you were time-starved; now you have it in abundance. You are relatively healthy, well-educated, and reasonably financially independent, especially if you live in North America.
You realize that, in spite of your best efforts, the aging process still goes on. With the exception of a few active individuals, at eighty you will have less energy than you will at fifty-five. The basic premise is that you are probably healthier and stronger earlier in life than later. With that in mind, you are going for it now.
This is not the retirement of yesterday.
Write me about your plans to make your dreams come true, or what you have already done to create your new reality.
Mahara Sinclaire, M.Ed.
© Mahara Sinclaire, 2007
mahara@laughingboomer.com
714 words
Related Tags: retirement, fun, freedom, traveling, flexibility, babyboomer
Mahara Sinclaire, M. Ed., the Boomer Expert, is the author of the book The Laughing Boomer, due out in 2007 and the Laughing Boomer Workbook: Retire from Work, Gear up for Living. She has presented hundreds of workshops on a variety of topics, writes syndicated columns and presents workshops on retirement planning. Mahara is known for inspiring clients to move forward with their lives. She can be reached by telephone at 604 324 1054, mahara@laughingboomer.com or http://www.laughingboomer.com
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