Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

There's Probably an App For This

I have an analogy that I use when people assk me what it's like to be retired: it's like building a three-car garage...at first, there's more room than you know what to do with, but soon, there isn't room for the car! At least, that's been my experience: no matter how much or how little there is to do, something always comes up to fill the time. Of course, I had a plan for my "post-career" life, and maybe others do not. Hence, the explosion in the number of "retirement coaches." really...as well as online sites and a bevy of other aids to help newly-retired folks.
Just for fun, google "retirement coach," and be ready to be amazed at the number of hits that occur. Some are basically free advice sites while others charge big bucks to provide searchers with "meaningful personal insights" which will guide them therough the last 30 years of their lives. Sites like 2young2retire.com and mynextphase.com cater to those are befreft of a meaningful existence...and most of them avoid using the "r-word," opting for terms such as "re-fire your life" and "renopause" (my favorite) to describe what they term as a "mid-career transition." I swear, Baby Boomers are nuts.
Having run on the hamster wheel for more years than they cared to, hating some if not all of it, they get to the point in life where they can choose the how, the where, the when, and the how often, and they get paralyzed with indecision. Money is often not an issue, but the feeling that they are no longer significant eats away at many of the recently, uh, retired (there, I wrote the word!).
While lying in a hammock in the tropics is certainly not the best option for the next 25 years or so, I would suggest that we all get a clue and do what we LIKE to do with the people we LIKE to be with. It's not hard.
As I said, I had a plan: working with athletes in a university setting and/or radio DJ. The radio part didn't work as well as I planned, so I substituted giving tours at a sports facility, but the other part has worked well...well enough that I now get to teach an occasional college course. Go figure!
And, if I can figure all of this out withoput a "coach," the rest of you can as well.

1 Comments:

At 2:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe the moral of the story is that you should "coach" retirement. You'd be wonderful at it.

 

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