Last time I talked about people in their 50’s with busy careers who are getting tired and are starting to see the finish line. Today, I’ll tell you about someone who crossed it recently and the unexpected impact it had on him.
Most people expect their life to change in positive ways once they retire. That usually means having more free time to do the things they always had to reserve for evenings, weekends and holidays.
“So what are you going to do now that you’re retired?”, people will ask.
Travel. Golf. Gardening. Reading. Spend time with the grandchildren. These are common answers.
We expect life to be more relaxed and fulfilling, even if these and other things keep us busy. But how many people could measure their level of relaxation empirically? Most people could say they feel more relaxed. But could they, well, prove it?
Enter an old pal who retired in January and the data collected by his sports watch. Notice below the dramatic change in his average heart rate from the high 60’s pre-retirement to the mid 50’s post-retirement.
“I never thought I was cranked up when I was working”, he told me. “I didn’t feel particularly stressed. But I was always on the go. My days were busy and the demands were constant”.
He fit the description of the people I described last time. He was in upper management with a big global brand. He managed a large group of people, commuted from the suburbs to the city very early each morning and travelled periodically.
Continuing to work can offer a lot of benefits. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to have a reason to get going each day, to be on the move and to be challenged and stimulated by what work demands of us. Many would say that by working they are staying young and that they don’t know what they’d do with their time if they retired. They fear that they wouldn’t be relaxed, but bored and that they’d regress physically and intellectually. I’ll talk about people who felt that way and who have found ways to overcome it in future blogs.
Making the decision to retire and setting ourselves up to be enriched by the change in lifestyle requires a great deal of reflection. I recall retirement consultant Barry LaValley saying “Don’t expect it to be like a 30-year long weekend”. The attitudes, motivation and mindset that you have while you are working will be the same when you’re retired. The most fulfilled people in retirement are the ones who stay busy, who find challenges and who are stimulated.
LaValley has also pointed out that the percentage of retired people who are depressed is the same as the percentage among the general population. Retirement usually won’t take a miserable person and make them happy.
A thorough analysis of the decision to retire goes well beyond the financial aspects advisors like me provide. It includes having a vision of what you will retire to, not just what you’ll retire from. It may involve some trial and error. Many people have retired and found themselves revisiting the decision and starting up again at something different. Nothing wrong with that.
If that vision inspires you, there is a greater chance that retirement itself will bring you joy. You’ll be happy with what you moved toward and not just relieved about what you moved away from. It will contribute to your overall wellness so that your heart rate is lower perhaps, but not zero.