The Time of Our Life: The Emotional Roller-Coaster of Retirement Monday, November 22, 2021

Retirement is dead. Long live retirement! For many Americans these days, traditional retirement, as we’ve known it, is gone—or disappearing. We no longer work for one employer for decades, then leave the workforce with a pension, kick back and relax. At least not all the time. For one thing, we’ve living much longer, so many retirees need to think beyond filling their days with a lot of golf. But how to reimagine about this chapter of life, a time of both vulnerability and opportunity—and Covid? In today’s episode, Carol Waldman, who retired (sort of) from a long career managing a large senior center, and Vicki Ellner, who started to retire from a wide-ranging career in health care and patient advocacy and decided to “rewire” instead, thought better of it, talk about the roller-coaster of emotions as they navigate their so-called retirement years. Carol and Vicki talk about the vulnerability of losing one’s work identity, the stress and anxiety of feeling a lack of control. At the same time, this can be the most open part of life, a sense of never feeling so free, with no set plans and restraints on our time—except that there’s ultimately less of it. Long-time friends and colleagues, Vicki and Carol talk about their individual searches for meaning and purpose, finding new experiences and ways to give the most and get the most out of this sometimes-strange place in life. Retirement can be a time of dealing with grief and grievances; acknowledging loss and letting go of things. Yet, it also allows us to become more of who we are, to find new space for joy and enjoyment in our lives. And as we transform retirement from a time of sheer leisure to one of renewed activity, we need to find ways to rebalance ourselves and make sure we’re not so busy in retirement that we long to go back to work!