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Staging your transition to retirement
How do you move from doing what you do to being what you want to be?
People moving to their second half of life raise questions that will shape their future lives. According to Sadler and Krefft (2007), people like you ask themselves:
· What do I value the most? What’s most important?
· What do I really want in life? What’s my next adventure?
· What should I let go of now? What do I want to keep?
· What difference will my life make? What legacy do I want to leave?
For many of you, stopping full time work and giving up on the social networks and relationships that you have made is a big move. Some of you may lose your identity, from being the manager of people, or strategist shaping their organisations’ future, or the support person to a more senior person.
For others of you, it may be change in status, where your position in your job defined you and now in the transition to retirement you may become just another ‘person in the street.’
Consider your life so far as a series of cycles. A cyclic view of life may help you view the major transitions or changes in your life as just another part of life. The excitement about the newness of your transition, a new job, relationship, travel or family member addition, followed by the work to sustain that newness and the subsequent ebb and flow of that transition, job, relationship or experience.
What are the transition stages?
Transitions are the periods between overlapping cycles, during which you leave one cycle and begin to move to the new cycle. Some of these cycles are negotiated easily while others may result in a crisis or feeling out of control.
Kaye Healey (2002) describes three stages in moving from full-time work to retirement, comprising:
· the end of the work life and lifestyle that supported you
· the change zone leaving what you have done to make plans
· the new beginning, where your second half really starts!
Ending always involves loss. Your management of this transition depends on your ability to acknowledge the loss and recognise what you are giving up. You take time to process and come to terms with this loss and as the feelings of shock, mourning, deep sadness and even regret with what has passed. From this you will come to a state of acceptance.
The change zone where you are moving from one stage to the other, may involve a void or neutral zone, where there is emptiness or lack of feeling for anything at all. This stage may be the period where you look beyond your identity or status, You let go of how your life used to be and find others to share your new feelings, and the possibility of new experiences.
The new beginning occurs when you have accepted that the old way, your old life is gone and you have allowed time to think about this next stage. You take charge of your life once more and develop new skills, supported by new feelings of growth and purpose. If you do not proceed to this new beginning, you may get stuck and unable to move from the change zone stage.
How do you cope with transition?
- You are encouraged to take your time and keep those aspects of your life that are working for you and sustain you.
You are urged to have the courage to release activities, relationships, obligations and problems that do not sustain you.
In tackling the new beginning stage, you are keen to embrace new ideas and new skills to help you be what you want to be. This new beginning may mean your being prepared to explore options and possibilities that you had no experience of before.
Consider that the new beginning will lead to a second half that offers you new opportunities, pleasures and participation – all for a fulfilling and purposeful life.
What can you do to make your transition successful?
Create a plan for your second half. Check out all the possibilities of the new beginning you want and work with a planner to get your second half of life right for you.
Contact us for a complimentary consultation to kick start your ideas, ending a cycle of work to beginning a cycle of new experiences. It will be the best spent 30 minutes you spend to kick start your lifestyle plan.
Contact us for a FREE checklist of 10 tips to jump start your life-reinvention!
References
Healey, K 2002. Changing Course: How do I retire? Choice Books. Marrickville. NSW.
Sadler , WA & Krefft, JH 2007. Change Course: Navigating Life After 50. Centre for Third Age Leadership Press. USA.
© 2009 Helene Strawbridge, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Second Half Success material in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read: By Helene Strawbridge of Second Half Success. Please visit Helene’s web site at www.secondhalfsuccess.com.au for additional articles and resources. (Make sure the link is live if placed in an newsletter or in a web site.)
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