As a young pastor, I remember scenes from my annual conference sessions each year when older pastors were recognized for their faithful ministry and then retired from active service. Retirement, in most cases, began each year in July, when pastoral appointment changes were made. The scene was a worship service including a time of celebration. Retiring pastors were congratulated, everyone smiling and laughing, as clergy friends and laity paid tribute to their service.
I thought of this scene recently when reading an article titled, “America’s New Age of Retirement Anxiety: Why Saving for Retirement Has Never Felt Scarier – or More Confusing,” by Emily Stewart (Business Insider 2024)
The author writes, “The way retirement is supposed to work in America is something like this: You work hard and play hard (within reason) until you’re 65. Then you get to collect Social Security, on top of drawing from the nest egg you’ve built up over your career. Free from the shackles of a 9-to-5, you can finally do all the things you’ve been waiting for: spend time with your grandkids, travel across the country in an RV, and hop on a cruise ship (if you dare). But to a lot of people, this story increasingly feels like a fairy tale that’s out of reach.”
More people 65 and older are continuing to work well beyond the “normal” retirement age. Some do so because they enjoy working and find meaning and purpose through their work. People are healthier, more vigorous, cognitively sharper, and ready to go on at much older ages than used to be the case. In contrast, others find it necessary to continue working because they do not have the financial means to stop working.
Longer life spans may mean more retirement years and possibly more years working past age 65. However, the retirement planning myth that you can work as long as you need doesn’t account for the uncertainties of aging. It may not be realistic to expect to work as long as you need or want to work.
For many retirees, retirement has become anxiety-inducing — and not just because they’re afraid they’ll run out of money once they stop working. Retirement is a life-changing transition. Fear of impending aging, physical decline, social isolation, and looming irrelevance haunts the minds of many entering retirement. Retirement can be a paradox for people at retirement — joy and fear. Joy at the thought of retiring and fear concerning what lies ahead.
Retirement is a major life transition that can be both exciting and daunting. After years of working, you now have the opportunity to enjoy more leisure time, travel, and explore new hobbies and interests. While the sudden lifestyle change can leave you anxious regarding your financial needs in retirement, the transition from work to non-work can also leave you feeling lost, wondering how to find meaning in your post-work years.
Finding meaning in retirement is a personal journey that differs for everyone. Retirees can find meaning through:
- Human relationships – spending more time with the grandkids
- Travel – seeing the world
- Work – returning to work, often part time, after retiring
- Faith – becoming more involved in their church
- Service – volunteering in their community
In Conscious Living, Conscious Aging, author Ron Pevny writes that for life transitions (such as retirement) to become successful, retirees must keep in mind there are three steps: Letting go, liminal time, and new beginnings.
He says letting go refers to leaving behind past roles, attitudes, regrets, and identities that no longer serve us as we move forward. Liminal time, or the neutral zone, refers to a time of feeling lost, formless, empty, and afraid, and may include deep grieving for what is left behind or lost. New beginnings refer to the emergence of a new sense of self, passion, purpose, worth, and vision.
Retirement is a chance to pause and ask deeper questions about the next season of life:
- Who are the people who have blessed my life?
- Why or how have they done so?
- Have I told them?
- What highlight events have enriched my life story?
- What highlight events have enriched my faith journey?
- Who is God calling me to be?
- What is God calling me to do?
For the Christian, retirement can be filled with a deep sense of purpose. Galatians 6:9 calls Christians to never tire of doing good: “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if do not give up.”
One helpful suggestion for people planning for retirement or who are already retired is to find what breaks your heart the most and make that your passion. There is a real need to be in service to something larger than ourselves and to use our gifts, skills, and wisdom developed over many decades to make a real difference in the world. For the good of humanity and the well-being of our planet, this new reality we call retirement demands that we be involved!
In retirement, may we keep these words found in Colossians 3: 12, 17 in our hearts:
“As God’s chosen ones, body and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…And, whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God.”
Dr. Richard Gentzler, Older Adult Ministry Director, oversees ENCORE Ministry’s mission of providing older adult ministry resources, leader training, and consultations. For more information, email Gentzler at rgentzler@encoreministry.org or call 615-400-0539.