Tatrit
Helping people who want to explore new paths in their retirement and who want to make more of a contribution to this world.
FOOD for THOUGHT
The
most manifest sign
of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her state is like that in the
regions above the moon, always clear and serene.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
How
does your retirement feel?
Different personalities and personal histories lead to
different perceptions and desires regarding retirement. For some,
retirement is a time of well deserved rest while for others retirement
is a four letter word. But beyond these differences there are also
similarities. Which of the following apply to you?
Are you:
- Already retired, or retiring soon?
- A couple facing retirement together?
- Planning to live outside your own home country in retirement?
You are near retirement and :
- You are very busy professionally, no time to really think about retirement now, and you’re looking forward to that long vacation ... when you may finally have some time to think about retirement. You’ve got some nagging doubts, but you’ll figure something out then.
- You’d been feeling confident about handling retirement up until you you ran across your ex-colleague Jake who retired some months months ago, and now you’re thinking twice. How much he’s changed! He looks years older, on the border of depression, and no sign of his old self confidence and his fire.
- You’re retiring because you reached the mandatory age. You resent it because you know you could keep working very productively for several more years. You are angry about being declared obsolete when you know your experience is valuable.
You’re already retired :
- You were looking forward to retirement and the freedom to relax and enjoy your life but now you’ve had enough of it. You feel a void and emptiness in your life that all your many activities don’t seem to fill.
- You had a dream you wanted to make happen once you retired, but now find that you’re not really moving forward to make that dream a reality. In fact, you’re having difficulties coping with just about every thing.You’re missing your professional social network, the intellectual challenge, and structure of your previous professional life.
You are a couple (retired or soon to be) and:
- You worry about the adjustments you’ll need to make for your new life after one or both of you have retired.
- You are a couple from two different cultures and now you have to decide where to retire.
You are living outside your own country (an “expatriate”), or planning to live outside your own country and:
- In addition to having to deal with the above kinds of situations, you have one more big decision to make: where to retire?
Do you recognize yourself in some of these situations?
If “Yes”, then you know that it can be emotionally painful, bringing an underlying unease and anxiety which you don’t quite see how to handle.
You may be avoiding thinking about it either by multiplying your activities or doing just the opposite, giving up and doing almost nothing, “giving time to time” for things to heal and resignation to set in, hoping that some things will resolve themselves and accepting the non-solved things as inevitable .
These approaches don’t really solve anything in the long run : you may get used to the pain, feel it less acutely, but it’s still there.
But there are solutions which can give you back your smile, your fire, and your life, solutions which will make you feel like jumping out of bed early in the morning so that you can start your day.
If you are one (or more of the following people)
- A creative person who is excited to find and create his/her own solutions instead of taking a one-size-fits-all “solution” (which really fits nobody very well). or
- A person who has a dream (being a painter, sculptor, writer, artist, creating a business, etc) which you haven’t been in a position to carry out yet (and you may even be unsure of your talents and creativity in this direction).
- A person who enjoys learning and for whom learning is as much part of life as eating and sleeping. (You believe that learning is one of the sources and fuels of life and vitality).
- A person who recognizes that in order to get the best for out of yourself you need to invest time, energy and money.
- A person who is open to new ideas and welcomes new ways of thinking, willing to experiment and to take on new adventures.
- A person who takes responsibility for their life. You don’t feel like leaving it to fate, luck, chance.
- A person who has lived for extensive periods of time outside of your own country
- A person who would like to be like one of the above (in which case you probably have it in you, but it needs some help to grow)
then you’re a lot like our clients.
If you match any of these profiles, then you’re like our existing clients, which in turn implies that you may well be successful in working with us and being excited about your life, day-after-day even after retiring.
You may be interested to find out if my approach could really help you. To find out what elements you need in your life to make this time of your life rich and fulfilling, check out What can you do?