Lets talk transitions

We are coming up fast to a transition, September 1 is the transition from summer to fall even though the Autumnal equinox is about September 23. This is when our day and night are of equal length, marking the start of autumn. But on September 1st students are thinking about returning to school, farmers are thinking about how they will finish up the fall harvest and people are thinking of fall activities and planning for winter even though the winter solstice is not until December 21 or 22. The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year, marking the start of winter. But, really, isn’t each new day an opportunity for transition? A chance to start a new habit or stop an old one? Another opportunity to step outside one’s comfort zone and learn something new?

Life is full of transitions. Some are looked forward to and some we fear. Life transitions can be:

· Combining households or welcoming a new baby

· Repurposing “empty nest” rooms

· Moving house (packing, unpacking, staging for sale)

· Dealing with a departed loved one’s belongings

· Setting up an office, or a schedule, to accommodate a career change.

· Downsizing now so loved ones don’t have to do it (as much) for you later

· Being laid off (not retired with benefits) from one career and starting my own business

· Moving from one area (city, province, country) to another

· Experiencing the deaths of friends, family, and beloved pets

· “Losing” those who simply moved away or left whatever group we were in together

· Transitioning in and out of volunteer jobs

· Phasing out hands-on organizing in favour of genealogy research and writing

· Working fewer hours by necessity, but also by design

· Retirement

What is retirement, anyway?

There’s a difference between 20 years of experience, and one year of experience 20 times. I knew people who did the same thing for all of their careers. I was lucky I added new experiences every two or three years. So, when I retired from my job in 2006, I had 40 years of experience doing what I loved. In reality, I never retired from the work I love to do. Some would say I am semi-retired. I am not sure of that designation. What is retirement these days, anyway? Is it when you have “enough money”? When you are “old enough”? When you are too tired or sick to work anymore?

For my parents, retirement looked very different from what it does today for most of the people I know. Sometimes retirement is a life transition so gradual that no one else but you notice it’s happening. Sometimes it is a wake-up call and a forced transition.