I sat next to a charming man - we agreed on most things until he talked about retirement, which of course was a trigger for MOB (after a couple of glasses of excellent vintage wine.) His words were 'Retirement is God's Waiting Room' or something to that effect, then followed it up with 'Women last longer than men because they don't work as hard'.
A lively conversation followed - as you can imagine.
I'll leave the second statement for others to debate, and focus on the first as this is my area of interest. Since beginning this project of 'Blueprint for Successful Retirement' where discussion and chat contribute towards concepts and strategies towards that end, I feel passionate about the positive aspects of retirement. Which is actually fabulous because I wasn't feeling that way when I began. In fact, I had similar negative ideas, thinking phrases like, 'I'm finished', 'I don't have an important role in society any more', I feel invisible out there'. etc
I see differently now -
There are now over 45 million women on the far side of 50, becoming visible, influential and numerous. Never before, in recorded history have there been so many women with so much competence, experience, independence and resources." Babyboomer women are powerful mentors in today's society. We are the Matriarchs - the female elders - the holders of the wisdom for the next generation. There is dignity and strength in this position."
But there are some simple ideas and strategies to share with you; in the meantime to leave you with the thought that 'we are not finished - we are just starting' - ie now we have the time to explore and act out many aspects of ourselves. I can't help but comment on the second remark - women and men traditionally work hard, but the one differing factor which stands out to me, is that women generally are left with less disposable time.
Perhaps this is why we value our retirement - we now have precious, disposable time to ourselves, to decide how we want to spend it.
Cheers Clara
Visit my website at http://www.babyboomerconnections.com.au/
To view or add comment, click on comments at bottom of page or send an email - clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au
