Do you have a plan for the stages of your life and at what point you’ll transition between them? Do you have some idea of the events that herald the beginning of the next phase?
I kind of did, in that I knew that my wife claiming her pension would be the point at which I would consider giving up work for us to spend more time together. We had talked about it, but there was nothing concrete enough to be called an actual plan as it seemed to be too far off. In my head, I thought I would carry on working for another year.
Like objects in the rear view mirror, things on the horizon are sometimes closer than they seem. The sudden illness and untimely death of my mother earlier this year brought forward some of those decisions. We had planned to downsize our property at some point, but now there are only two of us in the house that project can come forward. Sorting through my mum’s paperwork, I realised that several male members of my family line were either younger than I am now when they died, or only slightly older. I’m fit and healthy, but so was my stepfather and he died 6 months after retiring.
Once that seed was planted, it grew rapidly. I waited for 2 months before handing in my notice, in case I changed my mind. I still have some enjoyment in the work - it’s daily contact with my friends I’ll miss the most - but more and more I thought about the things I wanted to do when I was at school, and saw this as the opportunity to go and do them.
Which leads me to this site. Keeping a blog is something I’ve tried in the past, but never with sufficient free time to post regularly. As the third phase of my life begins, I’ll aim to post here weekly with my thoughts on retirement. There, I said it. The connotations of that word will be the subject of my next post.
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