Retirement

:an announcement

Jul 04, 2025

Recently I have been thinking about the notion of retirement.

Having reached the age of 65, which used to be the official retirement age, I feel a desire to have something that feels like a retirement but not as it was previously known.

So here are some things associated with being elderly (and a woman) and retired:

having less material needs
being not economically useful
transitioning to a leisure-focused lifestyle
bus passes
increasing health needs
being invisible, culturally
being ‘haggard, wrinkled and saggy’ (these are cultural judgements, not mine, although I admit to having turned them on myself at times, being a part of this culture of youth-worship)

Yes, there is a part of me that would love to have permission to do exactly what I want each day.

And guess what? I decided to do that about 9 years before I reached this current portal of elder.

Because the body does need more care, but also because being an elder (in contrast to being ‘retired’) is to share the wisdom you have accrued over a lifetime’s experiences, and to be a role model, fully authentic and as messy as you like.

To be me - and all that this entails.

And what I will be retiring is:

my addiction to speed (the modern pace of life, that is, not the substance)
any and all ways that I buy into a paradigm that is killing people and the planet
my fear of uncertainty and death
any notions of ‘not enough’ that I still nurse

This is in contrast to the bullet points above.

Transitionally, until we reach a state where all are loved and equality and peace reign, this is about reframing, redefining, remembering.

We/you are multi-dimensional beings on different paths that sometimes meet and that all lead home.

I am not re-tiring.

There I have said it, now I can go and have a nice leisurely breakfast a coffee as I gaze at the ocean, some more coherent breathing perhaps, and so many choices…before doing my soul’s work of helping gifted women find their place in this mad world.

Join me