The what and why of retirement

Think of a typical conversation with a group of friends in which you hit on a topic of common interest: politics, superannuation etc. Then there will be a great deal of “what” – swapping of opinions – but few “why” -this matters to me because…..

One reason for this is that the “what” is usually factual whereas the “why” is often emotional; therefore best avoided. What has this to do with retirement coaching?

Well, when you work there is a great deal of “what”: job title, tasks you engage in, the huge amount of time you spend at work and so on. However the “why” can get left unsaid.

Examples of this are: your identity that you forged at work, the meaning to you of routine at work; the validation that work bestowed on you, to name a few. Now emotions can enter with the help of a retirement coach.

This is because you should try to replace the meaning, validation and identity with a new version of yourself postwork. This is not easy to do, but a good coach can help you to develop that self-awareness. 

Retirement: You won’t know what it is like until you get there.