To most of us, retirement means the end of the early morning rush to complete the household chores and dash off to work. This would also mean no longer having to devote the best part of your day to working in the office. Instead, one could indulge in music, movies and good food. But we need to sit back and seriously ruminate on what we are looking for in the dusk of our lives? Not everything that we found interesting and captivating in our youth would interest us when we get old. So, before we make an idea of what retirement would mean to us, it is time to see retirement from a new prism. (Text by ET contributor Uma Shashikant, CIEL)
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Find purpose in the dusk of life
Take the time to find out what engages you. Instead of working with the many years of pursuing a mundane life that one did not choose, what would one do if one had a choice all over again? Are there interests that awaken and get you alive all over again? There are friends that have begun cooking ventures; some have discovered painting; one has become a tourist guide; one is learning Sanskrit and is reinterpreting ancient literature; the list is long. Find purpose, meaning will follow.
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Follow your heart
Break through the clutter to ask what matters most to you. There is no rule about earning money in a new profession; serving the society and community can be done in more ways than being a reluctant volunteer; abdicating all the joys of everyday living such as good food and clothes is not mandatory for retirees. Seeking what one’s heart wants does not always involve money. Don’t get trapped by what you are expected to do and don’t follow needless philosophies.
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The new you
Don’t waste your years in vicarious romanticisation of a different and new you. There is no alternate world in which you will mysteriously become someone else. What you are doing now, the person you are with your time, effort, thoughts and relationships is the real you. You can bring the world of your dreams into your life one step at a time. You have to build that new version one brick at a time. Be mindful of your present and take small steps to do what you like.
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Living within one’s means
There is no need to save and conserve but use the regular flow of income on one’s needs. Budgeting and allocating money to essential spends is enough to keep one secure. Money is managed easily if you can define your needs truthfully. For someone living in your own house and having no dependents, the pension is adequate. Align your lifestyle to your default income and do not celebrate unused large bank balances.
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True calling
Find meaning in pursuits that do not need money. Bring that human connection back in your lives. Reach out and converse, engage, soothe, comfort and help fellow human beings. When you find ways to collaborate, doors to joy and purpose open up.
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Plan to live until 90
My people imagine retirement to be something relaxing, but later understood that without rejuvenation it wasn’t sustainable. Plan to live until 90, and make those 30 years purposeful. Nothing is lost if one passes earlier. But imagine the horror of meaningless existence to that age. Life is too precious to simply give up and retreat at an artificial mark they called retirement.
