Wendy has been teaching elementary school for 35 years. She loves her job and she puts the majority of her time and energy into it. She feels proud that through teaching she is able to make an important contribution to society. She has been married for 40 years and has one son who lives overseas. Her social life centers around her teaching colleagues and school events. She is “out of shape” and feels guilty about not exercising. For the last 10 years, Wendy has had very little energy for anything but her job and the occasional outing with her husband. As Wendy looks forward to retiring next year, she has feelings of joyful anticipation and also of dread. She has prepared well financially but is worried about whether or not she will be happy.
It is important for us to develop all areas of our lives. Sometimes we spend the majority of our time and energy on one or two areas such as working and parenting. This leads to an imbalance and when these areas either no longer require so much time or cease to exist, we are at a loss as to how to make our lives meaningful.
An example of this occurs at retirement. If, for years, we put the majority of our resources into our job, when retirement comes we feel lost. Some people feel as if they have lost their identity, status, power, purpose, means of contributing to the community and the ability to achieve self-fulfillment. This can result in feelings of worthlessness and often depression.
When any change occurs, there is a grieving period and a rebuilding process to go through. Feelings of devastation and confusion during the transition from working to retirement can be minimized by assessing how well each of life’s areas has been tended before retirement. Some areas to consider are:
* Marriage
* Parenting
* Extended Family
* Friends
* Cultural
* Spiritual
* Leisure
* Self-growth
* Community Involvement
* Work
Wendy, to avoid losing her sense of purpose and worth at retirement, may decide to write down what she wants to achieve in each area of her life and plan how she can make it happen. She would then have a roadmap for retirement with destination and route planned. Wendy would be wise to begin making changes in her life before she retires. These changes could include: Spending more time with her husband by having weekly dates, eating more meals with him, joining him on his evening walk. Reconnecting with old friends who are not in the school system by telephoning them to plan a monthly outing at a cultural or sports event. Deciding how she will continue to contribute to the community (starting a tutoring service, doing volunteer work or joining a political campaign).
These changes in Wendy’s life will help make the transition from teaching to retirement go smoothly and will minimize her sense of loss.
