Retirement: The Professional Woman's Approach vs the Rest of Us

Mt. St Helens blew up...don't let your retirement do that!

I have friends that were professional women all of their adult life. Some took only the minimal time when their children were born and others took some real time off. But all of those women out of necessity or by design went back to work very soon. It was the choice they and their families made.

My world did not go that way. I was a stay at home mom that worked just enough to get us through those time when we needed extra money. My life was what a lot of women see as a lifetime of retirement. Even though I "worked" very hard at the job of life I was not in the workplace with small vacations and very little down time.

Today I was reading a blog post that Kathy over at Smart Living 365 titled Navigating Transitions Before, During or in Retirement. The title lets you know that Kathy has some serious subject matter to cover.

A book she had read prompting her to write a review was called Retirement Transition—An Innovation Approach written by Patricia West Doyle. I thought as I read the article that I could have used something like this when we retired over 20 years ago. Like with the babies we brought home when we were young, there was no instruction manual. Either you figured it out...well you had to figure it out because there was no choice.

I have written several posts about retirement "how-to's" because I am living the life on the sunset side of retirement. You talk about it, I know what you are saying from experience. One that has gotten over 4000 hits is called How to be a Snowbird...answers and lists! Another that has been read to death is The Seven Stages of Retirement Grief. Those articles are for those of us that just didn't know what was going to happen and what to do with our lives when there was no job. We could have used a little retirement transition information.

In her article Kathy talked about doing some self examination. I personally loved the part about achievement. Her thought was that it was accomplishment that filled her with satisfaction. Finishing the job, or for me vacuuming or writing or even a walk around the blog fills me with a sense of satisfaction. Knowing that about myself and getting it down someplace would have been very valuable for me. I now see very clearly that a life without propose is no life at all. Knowing that is very important. Thank you Kathy for just that small part.

But there is so much more. I think you should go over to Smart Living 365 and read what she as to say. All of the blog posts are full of wonderful information and surprises.

Now I wonder...WHAT SURPRISED YOU ABOUT RETIREMENT or LIFE?

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