“The Mind Games of Retirement”

Retirement isn’t just about leaving a job — it’s about adjusting to an entirely new way of life. This thoughtful conversation explores the mental and emotional challenges that can come with retirement, including losing routines, finding purpose, and learning how to navigate life after work.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

So I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about retirement and not specifically retirement itself, but life after retirement. It's something that's not really talked a lot about or focused on, especially with youth in general. But I kind of wanted to focus a little bit more on your age range in this section. So what were some of the biggest um fears or expectations going into retirement that you felt?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

See, first of all, folk don't understand that retirement is not physical. It's not a physical act. Folk look at retirement as quitting a job or completing your employment age or your employment space. That's not what retirement is. Retirement is a mental situation because there are so many things that go along with you when you're working. You have a routine for getting up, for getting dressed, for eating your breakfast, for managing your day. That's what your employment day looks like. Now, when you quote, retire, unquote, all of that stops, or at least it should. Because it's been ingrained in you so long that it becomes who you are. You have to change the mindset of quitting a job needs to be done in stages where you gather yourself to be able to do these things. Because what need to you what why do you need to get up at 5 30 in the morning when you're not going anywhere? You know.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

And so it's a mental thing where you have to mentally put yourself in a position where you go to sleep at a certain time and you can change all of that. That's an hard that's a hard job is retirement. It it has taken me the most of seven or eight years to retire because I didn't know how to stay in the bed. Or I'd get up and then I've I was fidgety because I hadn't nothing to do. But you have to learn to change your mindset on what it is that you need to do for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

You need a plan in place as to what you're going to do. You need to have something else to replace that employment job that you had for doing nothing.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

And doing nothing mean it doesn't mean that you don't do anything. There's a vast difference between the two. When the folks say you don't have, I have nothing to do. But you have to have something to do.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

You know.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

And you have to replace it with that. So with with me, I've had to find other things to do, involve myself in doing stuff, or find somebody to take them to the doctor, or or you know, be f check on the neighbor or have something to do within that day to make that day pass rather than just stumbling around doing nothing. But you gotta have something to do.