Discovery

My blog uses the word renaissance, meaning rebirth, to describe my view of retirement. The word retirement, to me, sounds dreary and implies withdrawing from life, whereas as you will gather from previous blogs, I regard this period of life as the time to relive. There are lots of other ‘re’ words which would also be more appropriate, such as renew, refresh, review and revive.

One word which I think should contribute to every retirement is rediscovery. The pressures of work and a career, and the responsibilities involved in raising a family, inevitably result in a contraction of one’s activities and interests. Daily life tends to become routine and constricted to what is possible and convenient. It is difficult to launch into new ventures or explore new areas of interest before retirement; your obligations get in the way.

So, in retirement, having shed all those obligations and abandoned the routine activities, you are free to be yourself, to rediscover all those thwarted interests and unfulfilled ambitions. Let your retirement be a voyage of discovery: I have always wanted to…. I would like to to take up ??? again. Whatever happened to that organisation/club/group I used to belong to?

Retirement is the time to restart a full and rewarding life; to explore aspects of oneself which have been neglected, maybe even unrecognised; to make new acquaintances; explore new areas of the country; to learn and to experiment. Retirement should be the start of a new life. There’s plenty of life ahead waiting to be lived to the full. Go for it!