When you sit around and chat with women over 50 and closer to 60 the topic of retirement is bound to come up. I think we all have this glorious image of spending our time doing what we want, when we want as we have less pressure to perform and produce in our lives, and more time for all the things we love.
During such a conversation my friend and I were talking about what retirement in this day and age looks like, as it is very different from our parents.
Now more than ever, folks out of necessity for money, or just a need to do meaningful things are moving towards the “next great thing” instead of slowing down to the rocking chair, or the golf course. We are not hard stopping at a particular age, but rather moving into our next chapters. I feel that as women especially we have always been asked to wear multiple hats, and so our identities have never just been about what we do for a living. So, moving towards our next chapter, or next adventure has become a place of intentional focus.
For so many years I have felt like I need to do “ALL THE THINGS!” and “RIGHT NOW!” There has been this perpetual sense of not having enough time, and hustle culture that tells us we have to be at 100% perfect at 100% capacity or we will miss out and be left at the roadside lost.
I know I am not alone, I hear it from people everyday in my office. The pressure, the push and the fleeting thoughts of a day when we don’t have to work so hard.
What if that day is today?
Recently, as part of a commitment to myself, I have started to look further ahead, like 10 years down the road and asking myself what do I want to be giving and doing then. My goal is to spend the next 5-10 years building an infrastructure that will allow me to move into my future, into things that bring me joy differently than what does today. Not an “instead of” mindset but one that allows me creative freedom to discover my Divine self over and over again, while I move in directions that sound like fun and freedom, and also have the ability to make me money.
So often in our culture we jump from one thing to another thing. Millennials change jobs approximately every 3-5 years, and will change career paths approximately 12 times in their lifetime. We are more inclined to adjust our sails during our lives than any generation previously. Some have seen this shift like there is something wrong that needs to be fixed, but I see it through a lens of “why not”.
As humans, we change. Period. But traditionally, we were expected to NOT change and stay in the same job, the same career for decades and then go grab a chair.
That mindset doesn’t really honor our human nature of growth and change. Spirit asks us to continuously move towards our true Divine nature.
As a person who has largely stayed close to my origins as a healer, I am still learning new things, trying new things, and dreaming about what else I can create and play with (someone help my overwhelmed husband!) as time and life go on. As humans we have a need for growth because change is an absolute guarantee. We can’t help it, we are built to change. Our cells die and our body creates new ones every minute of every day. You are literally a new being every couple of months. So when you “change your mind”, or your feelings change, your body changes, you experience something that changes you, it is natural. Change is like breathing, it happens automatically. We are designed for it. So maybe we fight it less, and perhaps we see change as an opportunity to let ourselves discover deeper versions of our truth and our Joy.
As we age, let’s give ourselves permission to adjust our sails, to acknowledge openly and joyously that we think, feel, behave, value and prioritize differently than we used to. We are supposed to! Spirit asks us to continuously move closer and closer to our most Divine self. Maybe as you look forward to your next chapter in life there are things that you can begin setting in place to build into the Divine version of yourself and your life that gets you excited for what is next. Maybe by laying the groundwork as time goes on you might even find yourself arriving in the next stage before you think!
Please hear me, you don’t have to be thinking of retirement to start setting yourself up for your next chapter. Growing into your truer self is a life long journey for all of us!
Forever the journey, Anne