In my second volume of client stories, I wanted to take a look back at some honest and open thoughts from participants of The Curated Retirement.
During the course, I host weekly Q&A sessions with the participants, based on one particular theme per week. The theme of this particular discussion was Planning for Your Life After Work.
The idea of the Q&A session is to gauge where clients are at with their thought processes, what concerns they have, and how best to approach these when planning for retirement.
One particular question we discussed that I want to focus on is: What are some of the challenges, obstacles or fears you have about retiring? I’ve collated a few answers to this question from the participants below.
Answers:
“Worried about a sense of boredom. Will my finances be enough to realize my retirement goals?”
“What I will do to meaningfully fill my days and to feel relevant in the world”
“Feeling that I will become invisible, of limited value to society, no longer having the same respect and a fear of not having enough to do.”
“Not feeling like I am accomplishing anything. Finding an activity to be passionate about. Relaxing into a new reality.“
“Being bored, having time weigh heavy on my hands, fearing that, almost immediately, my former circle would close with me on the outside looking in”
“Afraid of not having meaningful activities”
“How to fill my time and be useful”
“Filling my time with meaningful pursuits, and filling my time in general – I am used to being very busy.”
I look at all of these responses, and I see two common threads tying them all together.
Purpose and Identity.
In our fast-paced society, it’s normal to get caught up in the day-to-day, and lose sight of everything else that makes you, you. You work hard all of your life to achieve success, goals and status. But when retirement comes, it is easy to find yourself wondering what all of that was for, if it doesn’t carry over into your retirement life.
When you are nearing retirement, finding purpose and replacing your identity should be the most important aspect of your retirement planning. Yet, your retirement plans mainly focus on the financial side of things.
Most people derive their sense of purpose from their jobs. After years of hard work and accomplishments, you may feel lost without your career identity. But you are not alone in feeling this way, in fact, 31% of retirees report struggling with a lack of purpose.
By finding your purpose in retirement, and identifying who you are outside of your career, you are taking the first steps in creating a rewarding and fulfilling retired life.
In sharing this question, and some featured answers from participants, I hope to share with you that you’re not alone when it comes to feeling worried about upcoming retirement. There are many like-minded people feeling the same way, and I can help you on your journey.
The Curated Retirement is a six-week coaching program designed to guide you from feeling uncertain about how you will replace the identity, structure and purpose you get from your career to feeling clear, confident and excited about your post-career life.
You can join the waitlist for the next launch of the program here. We will be launching in early January 2023, so make sure you join the list today!