Retirement as Awakening

How many times throughout our work lives do we ask ourselves, when will I get to do what I really want to do? A few evolved souls out there might be inspired to ask that poignant question at a younger age and creatively pursue a life ahead according to our truest desires. Most of us will choose a more responsible and stable path of working hard for many years, likely for someone else or a big corporation, and devote ourselves to our chosen career, believing we will eventually save enough money to enjoy life's enrichments afterward, when we retire. Then, after 40-50 years of grueling sacrifice, we finally get there and are left with an aching wonder of WHO we are anymore. We suppress our truest desires for so long in order to create stability, raise our families and contribute to society, with this ambition to create space for happiness and freedom later. Only in that time, we often forget what really brings us joy. 

​Retirement can be an incredible opportunity to awaken into life. It can also be frightening to take steps toward our dreams again, after suppressing them for so long. How can we awaken what is dormant? First of all, we begin to explore (or re-explore) what our heart desires by engaging our best memories of happiness in life. Sometimes that is in childhood, or young adulthood before life's responsibilities crept in. When did you feel most alive, most like yourself, most in the flow. What were you doing that gave you that feeling? Who was there? Where were you?