Top Tips to Discover Your Purpose & Meaning in Retirement Life
Life can often feel like it’s lived by goals and milestones. In our fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in chasing these goals and achieving them. Graduating high school, going to college, getting a degree, starting your career, aiming for a promotion, buying a house, getting married, and starting a family. These are all too familiar tick boxes that you work hard for all of your life.
As you progress through these milestones and transitions in your life, your life falls into a routine and it’s easy to stay focused on your purpose. So, when you enter the retirement phase of your life, you can find yourself feeling a little unfulfilled having nothing to aim toward anymore, and wondering what it was all for.
After the steadiness of routine and goals throughout your life, retirement can come as a shock to the system. You go from your set schedule and never-ending to-do list to suddenly having all of the time in the world and perhaps very few ways to fill it.
Retirement planning generally only focuses on the financial aspects. Consequently, you approach it unprepared for the lifestyle changes and it can be an extremely unsettling transition.
The reality is that retirement is not just about putting your feet up. There is so much that you can achieve during this time. Learning how to discover your purpose and live a meaningful life during your retirement is the most rewarding and important part of your retirement planning process.
You are likely to find that your sense of purpose comes from your job. After years of hard work and dedication building your career, it is completely understandable to feel a little lost when you lose this sense of purpose. Your career has given you meaning and identity for as long as you can remember. So, this meaning and identity are what you will need to replace when you retire. (Download my free guide to learn how to replace the benefits we get from work to be happy in retirement.)
It is so important to discover your purpose and create a new identity in retirement. According to a study carried out by Science Direct, research proves that a higher sense of purpose in life is associated with a lower risk of chronic conditions and premature mortality. The study also found that leading a purposeful life leads to:
- Lower feelings of loneliness
- Better outcomes when it comes to recovering from illness
- More engagement in healthy behaviors
- Stronger physical abilities
- Protection against cognitive decline
- Longevity and happiness
Here are my top tips on how to discover your purpose and meaning in your retirement life.
Connect with Your Authentic Self
Being your true authentic self means who you are in life aligns with your actions. Your authentic self goes beyond what you do for a living, what possessions you own, or who you are to someone (a Mom, a Wife, a Grandparent…) It is who you are at your deepest core.
“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we are supposed to be and embracing who we actually are.”
—Brené Brown, author and researcher
Retirement is a key time to get to know yourself, your values and what’s important to you. Open yourself up to the reinvented you. Someone who is open to connecting with themselves on a deeper, more authentic level in this new phase of life.
By connecting with your authentic self, you will discover that you are so much more than the title printed on your business card or LinkedIn profile. You can consciously design your life using the skills, experiences, values, strengths and interests that make you uniquely you. You can appreciate and own your uniqueness, gaining the confidence to show up fully and apologetically; expressing your personal style in the way that you live your life.
Shift Your Mindset
Imagine if you could finally let go of the voice of…“I’m too old to…” or “What if I fail if I…”. Think about what possibilities would open up to you if you shifted this mindset. Retirement is the ultimate time to uncover and shift the negative beliefs that are preventing you from realizing your full potential. It’s your opportunity to create a positive vision and proactive mindset for your future.
Think about your beliefs about retirement, success, and aging. Take time to learn mindfulness techniques that can help you to shift these negative beliefs into empowering ones. By identifying the negative self-talk of the inner critic, you can overcome the pessimistic voice, let go of any self-doubt and step into your creative power.
Mindset practices can help you to live more mindfully; achieving a sense of inner calm and balance. A calm, clear mind is open to possibilities, and shifts from viewing retirement as an ending to retirement as a new beginning.
Pursue Your Passions
Imagine a retirement where you took up that hobby – painting, dancing, riding lessons – you had put on the back burner when you were juggling the demands of your career and family. Or where you went back to University to study Greek Literature of the Classical Period or another passion you never pursued because someone once told you it wasn’t ‘practical’. Or maybe you start that business you’ve always dreamed of, or finally wrote that book.
Pursuing your passions is a fundamental part of your purpose. Traditional retirement activities such as hobbies, travel, volunteering, part-time jobs, exercise, spending time with family and friends, and leisure activities all offer you meaning, purpose, and happiness.
It might be that living such a busy life you might not have had the time to pursue something selfishly for your own pleasure. When your career has dominated the majority of your adult life, having to figure out “what you love” outside of your work can be daunting. What is it that sets your soul on fire? It might come to you instantly. Or you might need to do some soul-searching. Think about the childhood experiences that mattered to you and what made you happy when you were younger. Talk with family members and friends, what passions do they think you have? What are dreams that you have had in the past? What are topics that are important to you? Ask yourself all the questions to really figure out your interests, discover your purpose and what motivates you.
Work with a Retirement Coach
It is such a normal and accepted concept to work with a financial advisor as you are approaching retirement to help guide your investment and savings choices. But most people don’t consider working with a specialized retirement life coach who can help you transition to your life after retirement.
Just as a financial advisor would help you navigate the complexities of your financial choices, a retirement coach can do the same with personal and emotional decisions. Working with a retirement coach can help you to see retirement not as an ending, but as a new and exciting chapter in your life where anything is possible. You might have your whole retirement mapped out financially, but have you considered what you’re actually going to do to spend your time for the next 20+ years?
My approach to retirement coaching is 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. If you want to know more about the logistics of working with a retirement coach or to enquire about available services, get in touch with me and I’m happy to talk it through with you.
Seize every moment, take time to discover your purpose, live life with meaning, and enjoy the journey to make your retirement years your best years.