Retirement: not as easy as I thought it would be

According to Robert C. Atchely, a noted sociologist/gerontologist, “Retirement is a condition in which an individual is forced or allowed to be and is employed less than full-time (whatever that may mean in his particular job) and in which his income is derived at least in part from a retirement pension earned through prior years of service as a job holder” {p. 1}. [1]

According to that definition I am retired; having left a previous employer of 37 years two years ago to begin my own consulting firm. I left before the typical retirement age due to a relatively blessed pension that could afford me the time to either succeed or fail at my intended endeavors, which in addition to beginning my own business, was to finish a doctoral degree that began a few years before retirement.

To tell the truth, I was thrilled to begin something that I thought about for a long time. And now, two years later I can tell you that I would not change a thing, even if my current endeavors fail. The interesting thing is that something did change, but I did not consciously realize it until recently.

For the last two years, as I attempted to build my consulting business, I worked in an office by myself. It was torture for me, as I am a person who not only loves, but also needs to be around others; engaged with them in a common endeavor. For the first two years I could not get excited about what I was doing. There was no motivation at all. It was dumbfounding for me until I realized that I had gone through a major life transformation. It is interesting that it did not happen on a conscious level. Consciously, although feeling guilty that I was not motivated, I was pretty happy being in charge of my life. But something was missing. I was not the same person, although I really did not know why.

I have since learned that my experience is not unique. The founder of the Career Coach Institute, and master certified career coach; Marcia Bench predicted my experience in her 2004 Retire Your Way training manual. In quoting from R. P. Johnson's The New Retirement: Discovering Your Dream (2001), she wrote that “Most (people) will retire for the first time, unsuccessfully, at age 57. Why ‘unsuccessfully’? Because…almost none of them invest time and energy planning the non financial aspects of retiring” {p. 9}. [2]

Would an adequate planning of the non-financial aspects of my retirement have aided my situation? We will never know, but it certainly could not have hurt. What did help was what some call a disorienting dilemma (more on that later), and the fact that my youngest daughter has joined my firm.

The lesson for those of you who plan to retire soon, think about your non-financial wellbeing before your life transforms from the collective context of the working world to the non-collective context of retirement. You have a lot of life left, live it well, especially in retirement.

Here’s where a retirement coach can really be an asset.

If you are interested in finding a retirement coach, please contact us.

Whether your experiences of retirement are similar, or completely different, please share them with us.


[1] Atchley, R. C. (1976). The sociology of retirement. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Company Inc.

[2] Johnson, R. P. (2001). The new retirement: Discovering your dream. St. Louis, MO: World Press, cited in Bench, M. (2004). Retire your way. Lake Havasu City, AZ: High Flight Press.

Glenn J. Forte, President
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email: gjforte@ckallc.com
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