A New Beginning

RETIREMENT should not be interpreted as meaning that a person is ready for the rocking chair. Some might have us believe that after we retire the appropriate image we should have of ourselves is that we are now officially "out to pasture," or "on the shelf." The idea behind this kind of thinking is that retirees can no longer be active, creative, or productive people. Quite the contrary is true! Retirement is not an ending, but rather a new beginning.

While some folks dread the idea of retirement, many of us who have worked perhaps 40 years or longer now enjoy our freedom from structured and regimented lives on the job. Even in retirement, of course, there are still some necessities. We must sleep and eat in order to stay alive and healthy. We also need to do whatever it takes to make ourselves presentable to those around us. And, there are a few things we ought to do to keep ourselves - or our spouse - happy. Therefore, some obligations continue. However, retirement gives us a great gift: more leisure than we have had since early childhood. As retirees, the largest percentage of our time will be totally free, and we can choose how we spend it.

In addition to having more time to do some of the things we enjoyed during our working life, retirement offers us the opportunity to learn new activities and new hobbies. For example, some of the finest works of art, and some of the best literature in history, were produced by individuals well into their retirement years. Opportunities for creativity are plentiful in retirement.

Retirement should be more than merely the stopping of work. It should be a new focus on more meaningful or important things. Retirement should be more than just rest or relaxation. It should mean going from something in the past, and moving to something new for the present and the future. Perhaps we need to think of retirement as an opportunity to re-charge our batteries, and to equip ourselves for an exciting new kind of productivity.

Best of all, perhaps, is the fact that retirement allows us time to meet and know ourselves, and to strengthen relationships with God, family, friends, and others in the community. Like others before us, in retirement we can discover the joys of a new beginning.