Good day, Kally
Please allow me and your readers to give you a little peek into my background so you’ll understand where I come from.
In my younger years, I was an extremely active young woman. I flew with the national airline as a flight attendant for ten years then I moved forward to become a secretary for a couple of years promoted to be a manager of all sorts for three different corporations before setting up a successful pottery business for another decade.
During that period, I had two marriages, both failed miserably but gave me three wonderful burdens of joys and in turn, they made me a grandmother of seven adorable brawling kids.
Two years ago, I decided to sell off my pottery business because I wanted more time to spend visiting my grandchildren and my children. This gave me a nice tidy nest egg that for sure, will last me very comfortably until I passed on. I spent the first year of my retirement sorting out the sale of the business, there were plenty of loose ends that need to be tied up and I was really busy meeting the new partners and lawyers.
Into the second year of my retirement, I flew all over the world. Some trips are for family visitations and some are for me to check them off my bucket list.
So now, I’ve been there, done that. With all the time on my hands suddenly, I don’t know what to do. I have been sitting bored in my house for the past 6 months, not sure what else I can do.
My children have their own separate lives and as much as they love another pair of hands to take care of their children, I sure don’t want to spend the rest of my life, chasing those chubby feet. Plus, I keep getting a feeling that my children will rather I come and visit than I come and stay for good if you know what I mean. I can be quite bossy at times. Haha. Old habits die hard!
I’m not so sure that I want to go back and work. I mean it is good to have a daily goal to have something positive to wake up to but I’m no longer young and energetic, I can’t be doing business trips or boardroom presentations or chasing deadlines all the time.
So writing this email to you, all alone in my house, I have nothing to aim for. Maybe you can help me. Or maybe your readers can give some bright ideas. Whatever thrown in my way will be a blessing.
Thank you.
Best Regards, Julianna W
Hi Julianna,
It is nice for you to drop me an email. I love hearing from you and happy that now you have entered the retirement stage.
There is plenty to do even with unlimited time on your hands. Retirement isn’t just about travelling around the world or babysitting your grandchildren. It is about pursuing dreams that have left unchecked while you were giving your youth away to your career and your family.
Have you considered perhaps giving back to society by volunteering at a cause you believe? There is a wide range of charities that will benefit from an extra pair of hands, from animal shelters, orphanages and elderly homes.
If you don’t want to be hands-on, you can consider taking up the back office roles like an event organiser, fundraiser or other administrative positions. This will fill up your time, allows you to network with your co-volunteers and bring you the satisfaction of making a change in the world we live in. Many non-profit organizations will have basic training to help you to integrate into their work. With your previous work experiences will bring invaluable contributions.
Another suggestion is for you to try your hand out at freelancing. Even though it still works, you get to choose the type of work that gets your interest, the size of the workload, the kind of industries you want to learn from and the kind of coworkers/clients you want to work with.
Unlike a traditional job (full or part-time), a freelancer is not as committed to a fixed schedule or type of work. Like myself, I can be copywriting yesterday, recruiting today and managing social media accounts tomorrow. There is plenty to get excited about and the best thing about freelancing, there is no age discrimination. Say goodbye to “oh, you are too old for this job” and nobody cares if you work in your pyjamas without makeup and dentures.
If you love travelling, you can even combine travelling with volunteerism. There are plenty of organizations that offer overseas volunteering programs in the third world or developing countries. You’ll find yourself looking after baby elephants at elephants sanctuaries in Thailand, teaching young kids in Africa or building a house in China.
Maybe you can try these ideas to find out which one suit you best. Retirement doesn’t mean staying at home twiddling your thumbs, waiting for reaper to knock on your door. Rather, it means that you have accomplished so much under your belt and it’s time to invest in trying out new things to enrich those previous life experiences.
Best of luck!
From, Kally@MiddleMe.net
Need some career advice? Why not write to me or read these: A Word Of Advice: Creepy Colleague A Word Of Advice: A Line Between Infidelity At Work A Word of Advice: Calling in Sick
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