I can’t make my life longer, but I can make it deeper – Jane Fonda
Renewing our sense of meaning and purpose concludes this 5-part series on what it’s like to be newly retired. Work provides many things in exchange for our time, talent and judgement, such as income, a community of belonging, challenges to learn from and apply our craft, and recognition of our contributions. Retirement is a change event to rethink our “why” beyond a corporate setting.
The prior four R’s of this series – Reconnecting with former colleagues and friends, Resting, Restoring physical ease and vitality, Re-creating recreation – are essentially forms of extreme self-care to foster wellbeing and pleasure that may have been de-prioritized during working years. By replenishing our “selves” we are made more whole to find our new “why,” pay it all forward and serve ourselves and the world in a new way.
Some new ways retirees are Renewing meaning:
• Contract expertise – Fractional, consulting, gig
• Employ expertise to non-profit orgs or smaller businesses
• Serve on non-profit & corporate boards
• Volunteer for community service & worthy causes
• Pivot to a new career, adapting expertise to a new line of work or passion project
Some have cobbled multiple irons in the fire. Some earn income. All have agency over how their time is spent, their talents employed.
For those thinking about deepening meaning pre- or post-retirement, clients have found the MPS Process by Tal Ben-Shahar Ph.D. a useful framework. Reflecting on these questions…
• Meaning – What is meaningful to me?
• Pleasure – What do I enjoy doing?
• Strengths – What superpowers do I enjoy using?
…and mining common themes across all three serves as a compass for their happy paths.
Supporting mid-late career executives to get unstuck and achieve their work-life aspirations is in that MPS sweet spot for me, along with authorship and the arts. This journey pivoting from corporate marketer to executive coach reveals insights around every bend. After decades of marketing mastery, I am a relative newbie in my new calling…it’s exciting. And I got here because many friends shared their time, wisdom and network.
We close where we started. Reconnecting with those met along our path and sharing dreams with vulnerability enables them to manifest. Each person holds a piece of a mosaic and can introduce you to others who hold other tiles. With time, the image vivifies.
What might your MPS bullseye be? Who are your angels to guide you?