Retiring into … Passion!
I have never seen myself as a particularly passionate person. (That, it emerges, is absolutely false, a mis-understanding of myself caused by attitudes to emotions learned in childhood, and all the resulting choices made on the foundations of those attitudes. And that can be the topic of another post!)
However, if someone has asked me five years ago, “What are your passions?”, my answer would have been, “Oh, I dunno. I’m not really a passionate person.” And I might even have been indulging in a private eye-roll at the question, because back then I thought ‘passion’ was kind of an overblown word for what most of us experience.
These days, I see it differently. For some of us, yes, our passions are blindingly obvious, but for others, they’re quieter. Just because they’re less obvious, however, does not make them any less passionate. Passion is passion, whether it’s a “change-the-world” kind of passion, or a “knitting relaxes me” kind of passion.
These days, for me, a “passion” is something that you enjoy doing or experiencing, something that brings value/meaning to your life, and something that you would miss deeply if it weren’t part of your life. Your life would feel less satisfying without it.
As we near the end of our work life, we can look to our passions to create meaning for our retirement years. If you are one of the fortunate with pension and/or investments that will allow you to have 100% choice over your activities, you’d best know what your passions are, or you may well find yourself bored, dissatisfied, and missing the job you were so happy to leave behind!
A late-in-life divorce means that I will probably have to work, at least part-time, into my seventies. Well, then. My work had damned well better be something I can take real satisfaction from! It had best be based on my passions.
(Really, wouldn’t that be best for all our work, all our lives long? Well, yeah. Obviously. But right now, I’m talking to those of us nearing, or in, retirement.)
What are we going to do with ourselves, to feel fulfilled, active, useful, productive … with or without the income?
My first and second careers were both based on a true passion of mine: making a positive difference in someone else’s life. They were both teaching-type occupations, because seeing that light of understanding dawn in someone’s face, and/or helping someone learn a skill or behaviour that will help them in their life … that means the world to me. It’s enormously satisfying. It took me till I was over sixty to see this, but it’s a passion. Absolutely and without any doubt at all. I am passionate about helping someone reach that point of understanding.
That’s why I love reading Tarot. That is why Tarot has become a passion, for me. What else am I doing than helping someone untangle some knotty threads in their life, helping them see a way through? There’s no greater satisfaction for me.
So. That’s my passion, and I’m working very hard to base my life upon it. (Book a reading! You’ll see!!)
What is your passion? Take some time to really think about it. What brings meaning and value to your life? And how could you craft a retirement that brings this to you?
