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Retirement Case Study: a Past Co-Worker
Mar. 29th, 2014 08:12 pmToday I had lunch with a co-worker from my past who has retired. I love to see how people handle retirement, and he has a good example.
It seems there are often two phases to retirement (or at least the early part). First you recover from your working life, catching up on a lot of things you've let slide such as sleep, exercise, and home upkeep. Then after a year or so of that, you have to figure out what you're going to do next.
My ex-co-worker actually started out more with a celebratory phase where he took off (during the hottest part of the year) and visited relatives up north and went on long camping trips up there.
Coming back, he originally thought he'd like to get another job at our former employer, but he hasn't been able to, and he's been hearing bad things about working there anyway. For example, after applying to one job, someone at that office actually told him that he wouldn't want that job!
Meanwhile he's gotten involved with non-profit organizations, mainly the Red Cross and a local classical music radio station.
With the Red Cross, he's been getting lots of training on dealing with emergencies, everything from apartment fires up to national disasters. He helps at several levels too, such as helping people find places to sleep and organizing large-scale responses.
With the radio station, he helps with events and fund raising.
And he also helped with registration at SXSW, which he found interesting because of how people came from all over the world.
He figures out what marketable skills he wants to learn next and then figures out ways to get training and experience in those areas.
So now he's happy with the non-profits where he says there are loads of opportunities. And he also still enjoys taking off for summer vacations to the north.
I won't be doing my retirement the same way. (I told him I'll be the opposite in some ways: I'm looking forward to never having to have marketable skills again!) But it seems perfect for him, which is fun to see.
In other news, we went to a restaurant he'd never been to (Tan My) and he told me that he requests fresh naan (bread) at Star of India (buffet) and they bring it to him for no extra charge. So we've both expanded our local restaurant knowledge.
It seems there are often two phases to retirement (or at least the early part). First you recover from your working life, catching up on a lot of things you've let slide such as sleep, exercise, and home upkeep. Then after a year or so of that, you have to figure out what you're going to do next.
My ex-co-worker actually started out more with a celebratory phase where he took off (during the hottest part of the year) and visited relatives up north and went on long camping trips up there.
Coming back, he originally thought he'd like to get another job at our former employer, but he hasn't been able to, and he's been hearing bad things about working there anyway. For example, after applying to one job, someone at that office actually told him that he wouldn't want that job!
Meanwhile he's gotten involved with non-profit organizations, mainly the Red Cross and a local classical music radio station.
With the Red Cross, he's been getting lots of training on dealing with emergencies, everything from apartment fires up to national disasters. He helps at several levels too, such as helping people find places to sleep and organizing large-scale responses.
With the radio station, he helps with events and fund raising.
And he also helped with registration at SXSW, which he found interesting because of how people came from all over the world.
He figures out what marketable skills he wants to learn next and then figures out ways to get training and experience in those areas.
So now he's happy with the non-profits where he says there are loads of opportunities. And he also still enjoys taking off for summer vacations to the north.
I won't be doing my retirement the same way. (I told him I'll be the opposite in some ways: I'm looking forward to never having to have marketable skills again!) But it seems perfect for him, which is fun to see.
In other news, we went to a restaurant he'd never been to (Tan My) and he told me that he requests fresh naan (bread) at Star of India (buffet) and they bring it to him for no extra charge. So we've both expanded our local restaurant knowledge.