When you retire, the feeling that you need to always be doing something will be there. It’s important to remember you’ve earned the luxury to “Take it Easy.”
David Ekerdt writes:
Instead, I believe that the mantra should be: Let retirement be retirement. Studies of people who pass from work to retirement consistently find that they prize sovereignty over time—freedom—as the great gift of their new stage of life. This should include the freedom to shrug off any pressure to conform to a busy standard. Our society has a sufficient number of retirees who feel driven to pass their later years believing that they must drag an energetic middle age as far into the future as they can. Let them chatter on about their bucket lists.
But let others feel comfortable not having any bucket list at all. Anyone’s retirement can be purpose-driven as long as it is one’s own purpose at one’s own pace. One of the wisest books about life after work, “The Experience of Retirement,” written by my good friend Robert Weiss, advised a rough 50-50 mix of engagement and freedom. Too many obligations can cost too much in freedom; too much free time can foster feelings of marginality. “Keep time for yourself, yes, but not to the exclusion of continuing to play a role in the world.” Bob also endorsed the satisfactions of “puttering.”
Easier said than done, of course. For retirees who want to pursue the not-so-busy life, nudges to do otherwise are constant. They find themselves being asked about their lives nowadays: So what are you up to? What are you doing with yourself? Are you keeping busy?
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