At this time of year, chances are you have just made your RSP contribution, gradually adding to the nest egg that will support your financial security on your way to an eventual retirement. But have you thought about what else you need to consider to better prepare yourself for this major life transition?
When I lead seminars for groups of pre-retiring professionals, I observe that some participants say that they have no hobbies and have very few friends aside from their spouse and colleagues. When they realize this, they have a little angst, wondering what their life will be like on the other side of ‘retirement’.
In the What’s Next seminar I lead in several provinces, 10 success factors are explored along with an understanding of happiness in the second half of life as having 4 dimensions. These are: autonomy, pleasure, engagement and meaning. Autonomy is about being pro-active in making choices that shape the course of your life in the spirit of sovereignty. Pleasure is about leisure and other activities we do for the pure joy of it. Engagement involves activities that we enjoy, such as hobbies, and that also provides a challenge, engage our knowledge and skills while generating some growth and learning. Meaning is what fills our lives with a sense of significance. It’s about an inner knowing that we are contributing and making a difference through activities such as volunteering, mentoring or otherwise serving a cause we care about.
If you are approaching this major life transition, I suggest you take a moment to reflect on the degree to which you experience a sense of balance with respect to this multi-faceted way of looking at happiness:
Ask yourself, on the scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied am I with each of these 4 dimensions and the types of activities they implicate. Then, for each of these 4 aspects, decide on something you could do or change to improve the balance and augment your experience of happiness and fulfillment.
