This is the first of five posts on what it’s like to be newly retired – this one on Reconnecting (four more R’s to be revealed in future posts!). I am pictured here with old friends, my awesome former boss and colleague of 18 years. We met up for lunch recently, not having seen each other since our retirements last year.
So strange to see workmates daily for years and then not. When we worked together, our shared experience was largely WORK. When we had lunch together then, work was the main topic, phones were checked intermittently to make sure something urgent wasn’t looming, and the check had to be transacted before a hard stop so that we could get back to our next meeting.
Retirement lunch is different.
Topics are diverse – Our shared experience now is of downshifting from Work Speed to our individual rhythms, so that is what we talk about. Updates on our emerging interests and families. Of other friends we are reconnecting with. Of upcoming travel planned that exceed one-week vacation increments. The magic of ordinary days.
No hard stop – None of us checked our phones once (if you knew us back in the day, you would know this is a minor miracle). When the conversation ran its course, we settled up and moved into our days. One went home to power nap.
Appreciation of individuality – When you see colleagues daily, there is a certain taking-for-grantedness …an expectation of value exchanged, of being their day in, day out. There is now a greater appreciation for former colleagues as people in your life – the arc of their personal lives, their emerging hopes and dreams and how their existence adds to your life.
It takes effort – It was a minor miracle we found a time the three of us could get together, we are all attending to diverse parts of our lives. Of the entire month of May, we picked the one day calendars aligned. So, that remains one constant from our working days.
On different paths – The work journey of driving differentiated company performance has been supplanted. This new journey has a different true north and ROI. We tune into who we are at this later stage of life. We have time affluence we likely haven’t had since we were kids. Change is underway with an unclear end game – we are all figuring it out as we go and – oddly – OK with uncertainty. Through reconnecting, we share insights from each of our journeys, what we are learning about ourselves and how we lean toward joy.
Reconnecting with former acquaintances and colleagues is one of the joys of being newly retired. I wish I had made time to do more of it when I was working full-time. If you have a story to share about reconnecting, I invite you to share your experience!