I know it’s unthinkable…but someday you will retire! Most publications are full of fabulous articles covering the cut and thrust of a high-octane career. But what happens when you’ve hit ‘send’ on the final email, exited the building clutching your ‘happy retirement’ card, and the person eyeing your position has already made your desk their new home?, asks Rachel Wetherall.
Let’s be brutally honest here (and we all know this to be true, but no one wants to say it), the working world is rife with age discrimination. I worked in Public Relations for 35 years, and it was in my 40s when I started to notice a change….and you will too, especially if you are female. If you are seeking a new job you’ll find that your success rate will fall off a cliff the older you get. And I won’t get started on how AI is going to have a dramatic impact on PR jobs! The reality is that you may face retirement earlier than you think!
And not to stoke a negative fire….but according to statistics, there is a blip of deaths in the first year of retirement. I get it. You have spent your entire life geared towards a ‘career’ and suddenly you enter a land no one has really prepared you for. I’m warning you here – it’s a HUGE transition.
A few words to the wise: you need to be prepared and that is in every sense of the word: financial, emotional, spiritual and physical. It’s very difficult to decommission ‘workthink’. It takes a long time to find a new rhythm and balance.
Financially you need to start thinking about retirement ideally before you even start working in the professional world, especially with the ever-receding state pension age (if there even is one by the time you retire). Indeed, there are hints that the retirement age may be pushed up to 74! And let me tell you time flies. You’ll be looking at your 60s before you know it. Poverty in retirement is a nasty proposition.
Be prepared for a mental roller coaster
Suddenly you’ll have something you never had before: time. You will start to reflect over the landscape of your working life. You’ll ponder the decisions you made, the good ones and the bad ones. It’s important to be kind as you climb up the greasy pole of your career because situations and people will come back to haunt you like Dickens’ ghosts from Christmas past.
A friend gave me some great advice – to take the first six months of retirement ‘slowfully’. Don’t put any pressure on yourself. Enjoy the view for once and let yourself drift a bit. On the final day of my PR career, I went home and sat in the garden. I felt at once terrified and immensely relieved that I had survived it all.
Perhaps the most significant question you’ll ask yourself is: Was it worth it?
