I am a fan of Patrick Vertenten's paintings. One of his recent works was titled "Leroy's last day at the office."
Magisterial how the artist here captures the contradiction between the atmosphere of the farewell party, suggested by the party props and sadness on the one hand, and the confusion and distraughtness of the "birthday boy" on the other. The dark background suggests that the young retiree is not at all happy with the prospect of an inactive career. Before he can embrace new dreams, he will have to bid a dignified farewell to his familiar active career and allow for the grieving period that characterizes a change/separation process.
Retirement marks the conclusion of an important phase of your life and ushers in a new, unprecedented phase of life.
This is accompanied by a range of emotions similar to a grieving period you go through following a loss experience.
In the workplace, we see employees looking at their retirement date in different ways. Some meticulously calculate how many active days remain and count down to the last day of work with the bonus of the horizon of great freedom where nothing has to be done and everything is possible.
Others carry on as if no change is about to happen. They look at the end of their careers as if they were leaving on vacation for an extended period and could simply resume their activities afterwards.
Still others are aware of the drastic change that quitting work entails and have already started working to get through this challenging change without too much ado.
How do you look at the end of your active career?
Whether you're excited about your impending retirement or you're in denial or resistance about it or you're looking inquisitively at what it could be for you, there's no denying that quitting work means a big change.
Work structures your day, provides financial security and gives you status and recognition. Through your work you become part of a network, an organization or a corporate culture. Above all, work provides you with a (role) identity and gives meaning to your life.
When this falls away, even though you may be looking forward very hard to retirement, you go through not only a grieving process but also an identity crisis.
You find yourself in a vacuum without landmarks, and the proverbial "black hole" lurks. Who are you left when your familiar environmental factors fall away?
If you want to clear the hurdle from your active career to retirement smoothly put as much energy into preparing for your future new phase of life as you did in your active career.
I give you 5 tips in advance to be prepared at the start of your new phase of life:
- Take stock of your career. Don't focus on missed opportunities but celebrate your successes and end on a positive note with a clear farewell ritual.
- Already now, think about later. Look at your self-portrait with a critical eye.
- Provide structure in this new phase of life
- Think about how you can fill connectedness with yourself and others
- Get perspective on, what makes this new phase of life, meaningful to you.
Do you need support in this?
Love the retirement workshop page of the Travvant website. Here you will find the times when we offer a workshop around (pre-)retirement.