JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: If you hang out here at JRW daily (and if not, why not?!?) you'll know we have a real community of commentors, and I think we all feel like we know each other in ways small and large. So I was embarrassed to learn that our own Amanda Le Rougetel has a blog devoted to writing, creativity, and - pertinent for today - how to focus on those pursuits in retirement. Shoutout to Celia Wakefield for pointing me toward Five Years a Writer.
Retirement is much on the mind for many of my group as we all approach the age. For my author friends, the question is: do writers retire? Do artists? Musicians? Amanda says no - and that if you haven't started yet, retirement is the perfect time.
Julia, thank you so much for the invitation to be on the front side of the
blog. I am honoured and delighted.
You know that question we ask little kids? The one that goes, What do you want to be when you grow up? Well, I think we should ask that same question of people who are heading into retirement: What do you want to be when you retire from the rat race? But do you know what I was asked, more often than not, when I was heading towards retirement? How are you going to keep busy? The little kids get a question all about hope and promise and dreams. The retirees — what do we get? A question about filling time. And that doesn’t sit right with me.
For me, retirement is my Third Act (capital T, capital A) and I want to play it out on a stage that is bright and active and, well, if not exactly loud, then I want to make some noise and I want to be heard. No invisibility for me. This retiree won’t be going quietly into the night…No. This retiree is figuring out how to build community through writing and art and how to translate those heretofore ‘hobbies’ into meaningful and satisfying work.
I spent 40+ years in the
full-time paid workforce, first in various communications-related jobs and
occasionally climbing a step or two up the promotions ladder, then in the
education sector as a college instructor for the final years. Teaching was the
most creative work I had done and the students, while occasionally frustrating,
kept things fresh. Those final years of my formal career turned out to be the
springboard into my Third Act as a Creative.
I am now ten months into retirement and thoroughly enjoying it, though I didn’t find it easy at first. The abrupt change in routine and schedule threw me for more than a loop; it blindsided me. I was so unused to having so much time on my hands that I could not find my rhythm for using it all. But then I remembered what May Sarton, the famous journal writer, said about time and routine and schedules: “A body without bones would be a limp impossible mess, so a day without steady routine would be disruptive and chaotic.”
I took Sarton’s advice, stopped
whiling away the time and, instead, harnessed it for all those things that I
had been longing to be able to focus on. As a Creative — someone who finds both
joy and satisfaction in working with words and images — I no longer needed to
squeeze those activities into the interstices of an organizational work week. I
could use full days to write and to collage and, yes, even to read. Wow. What a
revelation!
I had been planning for decades to arrive at this point in my life. I had been diligent about saving money and living within my means, so the money side of retirement was not the issue for me. Though this doesn’t mean I’m wealthy; far from it. I’ve never been wealthy, so it’s no surprise that I’m not wealthy now! Though I am rich — very rich — in that most precious commodity of all: time. And I want to get the very best payback from it I can.
For me this means continuing to
work. Not as an employee, not in a larger organization with all the constraints
that such an arrangement inevitably must bring. No. I am continuing to use my
knowledge and experience and am leveraging my skills to develop and deliver
writing workshops in the community with my long-time friend and creative
collaborator, who is also retired and also a Creative. We have so much fun with
this work, it is an endless source of amazement and joy for us.
So, when people ask me how I’m keeping busy in retirement, I just shake my head. Because Creatives don’t retire — not from work, though we may, if we’re lucky, leave the rat race. Once we are free from the limits of the boss’s nine to five regime, we are able to work at our craft for as many hours a day as brings us pleasure and satisfaction. These days, that work feels like play to me and it’s certainly the most fun I’ve ever had working!
My schedule may be full, but I do not feel busy. I am happy. In charge. Productive. A Creative, retired from the rat race, still working, and totally engaged by living on that bright active Third Act stage.
Dear Reds and Readers: What are your post-work plans? Who do you want to be — or who are you already — in retirement?
Amanda Le Rougetel reads, writes and does collage art in the heart of the Canadian prairies in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She blogs at Five Years a Writer, and teaches writing workshops through Writing as Tool. She is a long-time reader and commenter on the JRW blog and is a loyal fan of the JRW authors.
