Serial Lifestyles

Many people invest themselves so completely in their jobs that they simply cannot think of anything they would be able to do without that job to fill in time and be part of the social order or useful production. Their work is fulfilling to them, it reflects their values and their concerns about the order of things, of their place in the social contract. Their work represents their value to society, and therefore to themselves.

When they perceive of themselves as retired they see a great empty field of time needing to be consumed in some manner, but they are unable to conceive of anything they might do in place of the work that they're familiar with, to spend that time. Work in and of itself has become their reason for living. And without that reason there is no fulfillment and no reason to continue living.

Retirement, to these people, is commensurate with stagnation and decay; they slowly surrender the will to make the most of their lives because they have been forced to abandon the only value that has meaning to them; work. Where they once had complete control of their lives through the meaningfulness of routine and work and the economy of time well spent, they are left with nothing.

No interests outside of the work experience. Their self-regard is so entirely wrapped within what their work represented to them, of them, how it shaped them and their perceived value to society, and how society regarded them, that they are incapable of visualizing doing anything else with their lives. And their lives become meaningless, bereft of purpose, of direction, of discipline and of order.

These are the people who, if they are self-employed, simply keep on going well into their frail elderly years, and if their minds remain intact they are capable of performing, but at a more leisurely pace. For those who are employed by others, that option is rarely left intact. There is a societally-observed appropriate time to retire, and expectation is that they will retire and leave employment open for the emerging generation eager to take their jobs.

If these people have the flexibility of purpose and mindset to be motivated to continue to enjoy life on their own terms, not that of an employer, they may find themselves eager to spend time they formerly were unable to, doing a multitude of things of interest to them. Not necessarily travelling, but studying a new discipline, writing, painting, any type of enterprise that for them has a renewed and compelling value.

If they are more interested in extending the use of their productive professional years they have the option of volunteering in a number of different disciplines and social-enterprise areas where they qualify through their working backgrounds.  Those who find retirement tedious and without interest are simply devoid of imagination and enterprise. There are countless retirees who have discovered there is no problem filling in time pleasurably and usefully to themselves.

If we remain intellectually flexible in viewing a new perspective in life's opportunities and make use of our abilities, greater satisfaction can be found in the retirement years than those that we appreciated in the working years of our lives.