The Retirement Newsletter: What do I want from retirement?

Issue Number: -5 — should I have asked this question earlier?

Control

Welcome

Welcome to issue -5 — what do I want from retirement?

Ten weeks until I retire, and I ask the question I should have asked some time ago — what do I want from retirement?

What do I want from retirement?

Over the last few weeks, word has spread at work that I am leaving my current job, and I am often asked, ‘Oh, where are you moving to?’

My colleagues at work assume that I am leaving to take another job. I am taking this as a compliment, as they think I am younger than I am.

When I explain that I am retiring, it is usually greeted with one of three responses:

1. You lucky @#!$£%.

2. You can’t be retiring; you are far too young.

3. What are you going to do with yourself? You’ll get bored.

The response from my friends is pretty much the same.

I take response one as envy, two as a compliment and three as a lack of understanding.

Response three is interesting — it is interesting how people perceive me — you’ll get bored.

Over the years, I have cultivated the image of being a scientist and a university lecturer. People don’t see or know about the other sides of my life. They don’t see me as anything other than a scientist and a university lecturer. They think my job defines me. Well, it does, and it doesn’t.

When I retire, I will still be a scientist. I will still be curious about life around me and the underlying science. I may get involved in some citizen science.

When I retire, I will still be an educator. I may no longer teach at a university, but I won’t stop teaching. There are many ways to teach. (One of my colleagues asked me if I would consider doing ‘light’ university teaching when I retire. I would if they meant teaching without any associated paperwork or assessment, but I can’t see that happening.)

The scientist and teaching sides of my life will remain. What will go will be all the nonsense that gets in the way of teaching and science.

But what do I want from my retirement?

I have thought a lot about this, and I can sum up what I want from my retirement with one word — control.

I want to get back control of my life. For years, decades even, I felt I had no control.

But what do I mean by control? And no doubt, based on conversations with my retired friends, some retirees out there will laugh at the naivety of my thinking.

I want to regain control over my life, time, and when and how I do things.

For years, I have felt I had no control, that my work governed my life and time. And when you are doing something you enjoy and love, it is not a problem. Yet, my job has changed over the years, and I have found myself doing less of the stuff I enjoy. And yet, the job still had control.

When I retire, I plan to regain control over my life.

So, what will I do when work no longer fills my days and controls my time?

Lots of things.

I will still have my interests in science and teaching. I will find ways to put my skills and expertise to use. I will do the science and teaching I enjoy and want to do.

I will do more of the things I currently do and enjoy, for example, walking and travelling. When I am retired, I will have the time to do them — but not the cash.

I will also return to some of my hobbies and interests that I have let slip over the years because I have been too busy. I might get back into photography and mucking about on boats. Maybe computer programming?

I might try something new.

Who knows?

I think there will be plenty to do.

And I will slow down. I will no longer dash from one thing to another. I will control what I do and when.

When I explained the above to my retired friends, they said they had similar retirement plans but never got to any of them. When I ask, ‘why not? ‘ the standard answer is ’too busy. ‘ And when I press them on what they are busy doing, I usually get ‘doing stuff. ‘ I wonder what this mysterious ‘stuff’ could be; I guess I will find out.

So, there you are. What I want from my retirement is control. I want to regain control of my time and what I do when and where. In essence, I want control back over my diary.

Travel — Nostalgia Corner

My time living in Malaysia was coming to an end, and these are some of my final stories before I embarked on a ‘World Tour’ of SE Asia:

• 10 things that told me I had been living in Malaysia for too long — What ten things convinced me I had been in Malaysia too long?

• Singapore — Changi Airport (SIN), Singapore — Should I be telling you this?  The best-kept secret in Changi Airport is where to go for great food.

• Malaysia — An evening out in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia — its best-kept secret — Where to go for great food at Changi Airport.

• Malaysia — Riverwalk Tandoor Restoran, Gelang Patah, Johor, Malaysia — I believe, now sadly closed.

• Flying with FinnAir — Business class from London Heathrow to Helsinki and on to Singapore (AY840) — The worst business class experience in the world?

Next week, I will finish my stories from my time working in Malaysia, make one last trip to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in Singapore, and then head off on my ‘road trip’ through SE Asia and a bit of Australia.

Next week

Next week in issue -4.5 — Planning for the future. How will I manage my time when I retire?

Thanks

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Until next time,

Nick