Not everyone finds Retirement what they had thought it would be. I didn’t, and perhaps you didn’t, or you won’t either.I found it like slow decaying death! One day I decided to “Officially” Retire, and it immediately began to happen; day after day, week after week, people would ask me, "What do you do?”.
Over and over again, I would answer, "I'm retired now, but I used to be in Cardiovascular Medical Sales and Marketing” and I would watch as their eyes glazed over, ending what might have been the beginning of an interesting conversation,. But they wanted and expected a more exciting answer.
Personal Retirement Reality #1 – No one really cares about what anyone used to be, they want to know what’s going on now, "are you continuing to be productive and is it profitable?".
That was alright with me, I wasn’t really that interesting is starting a new “My New Bestest Friends” list of phone numbers and email addresses.
But even more important, at least to me, was the simple fact, that I was bored with my un-productive life. I didn’t know how to, nor did I want to learn, how to play golf day after day with a bunch of men bragging about their “hole in one” or “how good that birdie felt on the back 9”. I had already tried fishing and once again, didn’t have any desire to hang out with a bunch of men bragging about “the one that got away”, nor did I want to fish alone.Let’s face it, to do it right, fishing involves freezing, sweating, wading in water, and inevitably, by the end of the day, even if you weren’t successful, you will very likely stink, and if you are successful you’ll not only stink, but you’ll stink like an old fish that’s been lying around too long.
Personal Retirement Reality #2 – I don’t like hanging out with a bunch of guys and participating in organized guy stuff!Yuk! I made a decision, get rid of the “I used to be” and get an “I am a -”. I was going to Un-Retire and become productive again! That was not an easy task, but it led me to exploring my past entrepreneurship and personal dreams; things that I had considered doing “someday”, but never got around to them. And then figuring out which or all of those dreams I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life, or until I chose once again to either retire again or do something entirely different.