A Better Term for Retirement
We need one
I don’t particularly like the “R” word, and I’m guessing you don’t either, but deciding on an appropriate substitute is not easy.
Merriam Webster defines retirement as: withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from active working life. Fine. It’s the synonyms that make me uncomfortable: withdrawal, retreat, disengagement, shrinking, revulsion (!?), among others, which are synonyms for withdrawal rather than retirement. It’s a long way from a simple definition of leaving one’s occupation, which doesn’t sound terribly threatening, to a synonym like revulsion. I have no idea what revulsion has to do with retirement.
Mitch Anthony, author of The New Retirementality: Planning Your Life and Living Your Dreams…at Any Age You Want, describes the problem with the old idea and term of retirement.
Words like curiosity, connectivity, challenge, and contributing are hallmarks of a new generation of retirees who are transforming ‘retiring’ into ‘refiring’ and ‘reclining’ into ‘refining.’…In an excellent The Atlantic article titled, Making Aging Positive, Linda Fried, one of the founders of the Experience Corps, stated, ‘the truth is that we have created a new stage of life but have not yet envisioned its purpose, meaning, and opportunities, and the space is being filled with our fears. Like a drunk searching for a lost wallet under the wrong lamppost ‘because that’s where the light is,’ we are not looking for answers in the right places.’ Fried is correct, as is her prognosis of what it will take to change the problem: ‘We don’t yet know what this new stage of life can be, but the first step is to change the lens through which we view aging and challenge our stereotypical assumptions.’1
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word retirement? I do not think of terms like withdraw or disengagement, but many people do. When I googled ‘positive terms for retirement,’ here’s what I got:
The top 10 positive & impactful synonyms for “retirement” are golden years, sabbatical, respite, leisure, departure, rest, withdrawal, disengagement, exit, and transition.
With the exception of transition, those terms don’t have anything to do with purposeful living, in fact, they seem to be another list of synonyms for withdraw. Forbes produced an article in 2022 called “These Are The Top 10 Words People Use To Describe Retirement” and it lists relax, happy, travel, retirement, family, fun, success, freedom, money, and fulfilled. Better, but not quite what I have in mind.
Many of us are reimagining retirement into redirection.
Merriam Webster’s definition of redirect is: to turn: to change the course or direction of (something) and the synonyms are much more palatable, such as shift, deflect, transfer, or switch. In my thinking, those are more representative of what we do in retirement.
When asked what you do, instead of sheepishly answering I’m retired, you could say I’m redirecting my efforts to volunteering, education, grandchildren, a different job or career, church community, exercise/health, a purposeful sabbatical for those newly retired, or any other purpose.
Put it in those terms, we are not leaving something behind, we are moving toward something better, we are not useless, we are determined to be of use in a different way. We are producers, not only consumers.
We don’t withdraw from life, work, learning, spirituality, growth, or relationships, we redirect our activities toward achieving what we truly desire.
Ah, but what do we truly desire? What do we want to offer our family, church, community or world? We’re not finished when we leave our occupations, in fact, these redirected years can be some of the most productive and rewarding years of our lives if we redirect our efforts wisely.
It takes time and honest thought to switch from a career focused life to a redirected life. By now, you have a wealth of experience, you know yourself better, and hopefully you have less to fear, and that puts you in a good position to consider what your experience has taught you and how it could be productively redirected.
Redirected instead of retired? Redirected years instead of retirement years? It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.
What do you think?
Photo by Stefan Heinemann on Unsplash
Anthony, Mitch, The New Retirementality: Planning Your Life and Living Your Dreams…at Any Age You Want, Fifth Edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2020, p. 53-54
I like redirected as well. I'm doing many of the same things I've done my entire life - including writing and speaking - but without the added time constraints of full-time employment. I love the word curiosity, connectivity, challenge, and contributing - those describe what's important to me at 71! Thanks Judy.
I like reimagined AND rewired. Little did I know when I retired that writing and blogging would give me purpose and satisfaction, yet also provide flexibility. I've also enjoyed the opportunity to mentor younger women and be an influence in our grandchildren's lives. There's MUCH to be grateful for in this post-work stage of life!