One way to regard life is as a railway journey. We left the station at birth and gradually accelerated through childhood until we were at top speed during adolescence and after. Our social and physical activities occurred without restraint, we learned and experimented – we were on the right line and definitely going somewhere. But then life started to be constricted by a special relationship, and after passing the marriage signal, the railway dropped into a cutting which started to restrict our vision and eventually plunged into a long tunnel. As we progressed and grew older, the walls – work, family, bills, mortgage, pressed in on us and often it appeared as if our narrow, restricted journey would go on for ever. We could see no light at the end of the tunnel.
But the children grew up and, it is to be hoped, moved away. The house is now fully yours, your job is coming to an end and yet life’s journey will go on. Approaching retirement is like seeing there is light after the tunnel, but not knowing what will be there when you finally emerge. You burst out from the dark and the light is blinding, the view immense. The temptation is to keep looking ahead down the line and wondering each day how long you have until you reach the final station. Instead, leave the train as soon as you can after the tunnel, dash off into the new and exciting world that has been revealed to you, and have adventures. Whoo whoooo!
Renaissance not Retirement 