Retirement: Do’s And Don’ts

Retirement is defined as the action or fact of leaving one’s job and ceasing to work. Among the synonyms for retirement are separation, withdrawal, and detachment. Seclusion, isolation, and pullback are terms that might also be associated with retirement.

Holy crap, that sounded quite heavy, didn’t it? Still with me? True confession, that introduction and the title of this post is all about SEO (helpful article on that topic) ‘cuz ya know “bloggers gotta blog”. There are no lists of do’s and don’ts in this post. Just a few reflections on the past few months of my experiences adjusting and adapting to retired life. And just for the record, I’d prefer to associate retirement with words like relaxation, freedom, and opportunity.

If you’re a new reader of this blog or otherwise need a refresher on the start of this journey, may I suggest a browse through Drum Roll, Please., Last Week, This Week: Loose Ends, April 5-11, Last Week, This Week: Connection Issues, April 12-18, Last Week, This Week: Hey Good Lookin’, April 19-25, and Last Week, This Week: Off The Rails, April 26 – May 2. Those posts cover most of the initial adjustments to retirement I experiences in the first four weeks of it. A long planned for retirement that wound up occuring in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fine, whatever.

Not the start I had expected for this new phase in my life. As May and June rolled around, concerns over the spread of the virus and growing political angst across the US began to make me question whether my usual fare on the blog was meaningful. I know that I wasn’t alone in feeling conflicted about continuing to publish posts like my weekly Last Week This Week ones because of my awareness of the life of privilege I lead. Ultimately, that led to a decision to retire the series, as explained in Last Week(s), This Week: Dilemmas, Decisions, And Days On End, June 1-30.

It was four weeks before my retirement date that my former workplace moved to WFH due to COVID-19. Up until that time, I’d started to get the “what are you going to do after you retire?” type of questions as I came across colleagues aware that my end date was drawing close. With so many opportunities and options that I envisioned for myself, I’d been having a hard time distilling them down to just three that I would include in an “elevator speech” type of answer. None at my workplace knew about my blog so a reference to that would not be included and neither would one about Poshmark because many might not know what that is either.

It’s likely that the “elevator speech” answer would have included “turning off my alarm clock, to travel, and to take up kickboxing”. The first two are generic and easy to understand. The last one I added for laughs even though I was serious. While I no longer set an alarm to wake myself in the morning, any plans of traveling or taking up kickboxing are on hold for a while.

Beyond whatever plans I might have had for this blog, for getting more sleep, for being more physically active, and for basically enjoying my life, I’d been looking forward to making my clothing choices based on nothing more than what I like. No rules. I’ve shared in many past Last Week This Week posts of the challenges of figuring out what to wear to the office considering how relaxed workplace dress codes have become in the past decade or so. Given my age and position as the director of a department, I’d still made my weekday choices based on a standard of so-called “casual professionalism”.

The look above might have made the cut back for a Friday-casual OOTD back when I was still working. However, I’d still run with it in a heartbeat today should lunch with my galpals or anything else be my calendar. This ensemble is a mix of pre-loved items and retail purchases. Whether dressing for the office or not, I typically opt for a completer piece like a cardigan or a casual jacket like this swing-style one. This beauty is one of the pre-loved items. Besides the easy-to-wear style, I adore the tone-on-tone herringbone texture of the fabric. After a long spell of avoiding most in-person shopping, I found it when The Husband and I had ventured out on our anniversary in September to peruse a couple of thrift stores in downtown Ventura before dining al fresco at a local restaurant.

The shoes are also thrift store finds but from a few years ago and have been shared in several past posts. The brooch had been my mother’s. Retail purchases are the jeans are from Chico’s that I found at a huge markdown a couple of years ago and the blouse is from that oh-so-famous retailer with the bullseye logo.

Recently I came across this article, The Emotional Stages Of Retirement advising persons who are starting to consider retirement to prepare themselves for the evitable transition they will face. Briefly, the stages identified in this article are planning, excitement, honeymoon, disenchantment, and reorientation & stability. For the most part, progression through these stages is primarily linear, unlike those of grief in which a person will often cycle backward as they work through the pain of their loss. Personally, calling the fourth stage “disenchantment” does not resonate with me. I think adaptation is a better description of the evitable reflections one will make on unmet expectations and the need to redirect oneself.

So I’m adapting. Plans I might’ve had have been exchanged for new ones, like making my own sourdough starter. Oh, and I’ve started working again, sort of. I’ve been asked by my former office to help with a couple of projects that I’m somewhat of an expert on. I’m now on a short-term contract to do just that. Still working from home so no commute, YAY! And fortunately, I can start my day for the most part when I want to so no need for setting an alarm either. Now, however, what am I going to wear?

Be well and let’s stay in touch! Subscribe, tweet, follow, friend, pin … all options are available. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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