by Ricky Longfellow

Created on: May 27, 2010

Retirement – A Time of Doubt or Jubilation?

 There are hundreds, maybe thousands of articles on the Internet about planning for retirement – save X percent of your savings toward your 401K, plan your healthcare expenses, review your will and trust funds, buy a rocking chair…well, okay I made up the rocking chair part.

 All this advice is good, but I haven’t seen anything about how you might feel emotionally about retiring, particularly if you are still youthful and healthy, your coworkers are like family, and you love your job.  So why would someone leave such an idyllic situation?  

 Employees have a number of reasons for wanting to retire, including stress, wanting to spend more time with children and grandchildren, eligibility, and future plans that may include a second career. However, retirement does not magically end stress.  The act of retiring in itself is stressful.  

 As a member of the so-called baby boomers, I recently retired, and in the last few days and hours on the job, all sorts of doubts ran through my mind.  Had I done the right thing?  Did I really have my finances in order or did I miss something?   Friday was my last day.  Would I robotically get up early on Monday morning and be sitting at my desk smiling and offering a cheerful “Good morning” when my coworkers came in?

 Then it hit me - for the first time in 25 years, I had no job!  I felt a little streak of panic, but I had been no stranger to anxiety attacks after making the decision to retire in the first place, so I told myself to breathe.  Once the oxygen reached my brain I again assessed my situation. A month before I retired I practiced retiring after having minor surgery on my leg where I had to take nearly a week off work.  At the time I had no doubts that I could retire without regret, except for leaving the best coworkers in the world. I hadn't planned on that. 

 But then reality has a way of segwaying into your life and the doubts began.  The one unbelievable point that I had shared with office buddies was that I wouldn’t have to get up in the mornings to go to work, but that somebody somewhere was going to pay me anyway.  That is a fairly good set up, is it not? So, now what’s the problem I asked myself?

 A casual conversation with a coworker helped me find the answer.  It is the word

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