Lughnasa State Fair Moon
Suppose tomorrow someone came to you and said, “From now on you no longer have to use the education, skills and experience you’ve accumulated over your lifetime. Good luck.” They might have added, “And here’s a gold watch to keep track of time until, well, you don’t need to anymore.”
Our received understanding of retirement remains that of a life period where the things you worked and sacrificed to learn all of a sudden become so much baggage better left at the station. It’s what our financial counselor Ruth Hayden calls the finish line model of retirement. “Whew.” We wipe our brows. “Glad that’s over. Martha, my slippers.”
It’s no longer like that. Hasn’t been for a long time. Some people, many people, will have to work a lot longer. Others don’t, but still shuttle into the afteroffice with no idea of what comes next. Perhaps when life expectancy after retirement was shorter, it was typically 18 months among working class retirees in my hometown of Alexandria, Indiana, the no plan might work. Some television. Some fishing. Some cards. A few beers. That trip to Las Vegas. Then, that trip to Happy Hill Cemetery. Even then I suspect there were many long nights and longer weeks, weeks of wondering what on earth I’m doing still on earth, for heaven’s sake.
Now, with healthspan increasing and lifespan reaching 20-25 years post-retirement, it definitely won’t be enough. This next phase, call it the Afteroffice or the third phase, has as many years as the other two phases, roughly, and certainly enough years that it needs to have a plan, a what I’m up to now contract with yourself and those around you family, friends, community.
After a first phase which emphasized preparation and a second phase which underlined practice, what is the third phase or the Afteroffice theme? There could be many answers and there will certainly be a vast diversity of paths, but it seems likely that the dominant motif will be soul work.
Define soul however you want. Which is just what I’ll try to do in my next post in this series.
