Are you facing retirement? Are you asking yourself some of these questions?
Is it normal to feel anxious about retiring?
How do I find purpose after retirement?
Who am I when I stop working?
Why do I feel lost after retirement?
Retirement is a huge transition in life so it is normal to feel anxious.. You may not be sure how it is going to feel or what you are going to do now. That’s ok, the good news is that you can plan and prepare for your retirement so you can feel confident about it.
After all – for years now one of the first questions you’ve been asked when you have met someone new is “what do you do?”. So who will you be when you stop working? It has been a big part of your identity and now it is going – so who are you? That’s definitely something that needs exploring
And why do you feel lost? Well when all those years of experience will come to an end retirement can feel rather isolating and even lonely. It is so important you have an alternative to work so this doesn’t happen. You will definitely need to find a purpose. This will be something very personal to you, something that makes you feel good about yourself and what you are doing.
It might be that you haven’t chosen it but for some reason or other you have to retire. That can be a challenge and it is important to work through not only what you will do but also how you feel about it.
There is also the aspect of retiring as a couple – what will that look like? How do you want to be together in retirement?
All these things and more are key questions about retirement and if you want to see just how well prepared you are you can take the Retirement assessment here.
There are four stages of retirement – vacation, feeling loss and lost, trial and error to find something meaningful and then reinventing life – creating a fulfilling, happy and joyful retirement.
The Retire Happily and the Retire Happily Together Retreats and the virtual coaching programme are all designed to skip phase two and three and go straight to phase four. By taking some time to step back and review your life, work out what bits you want to take forward with you, what you want to leave behind and what you want to add, you can create what I called recently with a client; “a bloody wonderful life!“
Planning your retirement, this major life transition, is important for a few reasons.
On the surface you think you need :
• clarity
• purpose
• a plan
But emotionally, you need something deeper, someone to:
• truly understand this transition
• normalise what you are feeling
• help you reconnect with yourself
• help you give yourself permission that is it ok to want more
• help you feel alive again
• help you imagine a compelling future
• guide you without judgement
• create space away from your normal routine to contemplate your life
• help you reinvent yourself safely
And perhaps most importantly:
• help you know that this next stage of life can become your best one yet.
By having an idea of what your retirement can be like before you get there you can take the worry out of the experience and enjoy moving to onto the next bit of life.
You can also see what limitations you may be putting upon the idea of retirement. The ‘what I can and can’t do’ beliefs, and in most cases, move past those limitations and start including things in life that truly make you happy.
And you can remove the ‘shoulds’, most of which have been picked up along the way and never questioned. I am a great believer that life, let alone retirement, must never be based on a ‘should’.
And last but by no means least – you can rediscover who you are. Let go of the person defined by your work and reconnect with yourself, your values and your interests that may have gone by the wayside in your busy life. Not only that you may be inspired to deepen your relationship and friendships, perhaps invest the time you never had before.
Come as a Couple, Retire Happily Together.
This retreat is also available for couples. Working out together what your retirement can look like, ensuring that both of you get to include your interests and that there is space for both individual pursuits as well as things you enjoy together can be the key to a happy retirement together. Taking the time to work out what your joint retirement can look like can ensure that you start off on the same page going in the same direction, and you won’t drive each other up the wall!
The couples retreat is over three days so we have enough time for both individual and joint sessions. To make sure you get exactly what you need there is no set programme for this retreat. You and your life are unique, and so we will take the time to focus on your specific questions, unpack your life and who you are and who you wish to be in the future, and my extensive experience and toolbox will help you get your answers and see clearly what you want your future to hold.
Not only do you have your individual responses to retirement, but it is also vital you are on the same page as to how your joint retirement will be. Often many couples have totally different ideas about what they want to do – they’ve both been imagining different scenarios for years – that when they start discussing what their retirement will look like, how they will spend their money, what they will do with their time, they realise that they are in a totally different movies.
When to come on Retreat
Whether you’ve already retired and are finding it hard; not what you expected or if you are looking at retirement and feeling a bit daunted by the idea (or even tempted to stay on at work for a few years more) then I can help.
As well as the retreats it is also possible to do a shorter 6 hour virtual programme, all sessions are on Zoom and can be recorded if requested.
So stop for a moment and check out how this all feels. If it feels good, (even if a little scary, that’s fine) then that shows you that this is your next step to ensure that your retirement is all it can be.
Let’s chat and then we can find the perfect date for you to bring along an open mind and a willing heart and watch your new life begin to unfold.
My favourite quote is this:
Life is NOT a journey to the grave with the goal of arriving safely in a prettily preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways in a shower of gravel and party shards, thoroughly used, utterly exhausted, and loudly proclaiming: “Fuck ME, that was BRILLIANT!”
So let’s do it and ensure you slide in sideways in shower of gravel and party shards!
How does it work?
We have a discovery call to discuss where you are in life and how you are feeling about your retirement and what concerns you have. And we will explore how the retreat or the coaching programme will answer those concerns and set you up to retire happily. You also get the opportunity to ask me any questions you might have about me or how the retreat works. Just fill in the box below and we can arrange a time to talk.
Once we both agree this will launch this new phase of your life happily, we’ll book in dates (both weekends and weekdays are fine) and I will send you an agreement and joining information for your retreat.
The retreat fee includes transfers to and from Malaga airport, accommodation and all meals. Dietary requirements can be catered for. It is also possible to arrange follow up support sessions to ensure that your retreat is not just a nice few days out of your busy life but continues to work its magic after you return home and into your retirement.
Testimonials
- ...we both feel empowered to connect on a different and enlightened path towards our retirement. A B. Couples Retirement Retreat
- I was able to deal with the endings of a corporate life and consider new beginnings including retirement. It was a great process where I learned techniques that I still use now 4 months after the retreat. It has helped me to transition from corporate life into retirement in a positive and pro active way. S. O’H. Global HR Director
- Because my husband was retiring before me I hadn’t really considered planning my run-up to retirement, but now I feel so much clearer about what the next three years will look like. It’s such a relief, - I didn’t realise how much I needed that sense of direction until now!” D.E. Retire Happily Together
- I decided to fly 7,000 miles to a retreat with Jessica based on nothing more than a review of her website and half hour phone conversation - this from a serious, responsible woman who doesn’t do anything without intensive due diligence and a huge, heaping helping of common sense.... I left feeling empowered, hopeful, happy and recharged. I have a simple game-plan and a new set of tools to keep me on the path. A.B. General Council
- Having something positive to look forward to helped me to finally let go of my old role and start to embrace this next chapter. Jessica also gave me some thought-provoking ideas - not necessarily the answers, but prompts that made me look at myself, and what’s possible, in a new light. B.E. Retire Happily Together
- ... I had a vision of a few days, having a chat in the sun in Spain listening to someone telling us what we should do next. How wrong was I..... J.B. Logistics Manager- Retire Happily Retreat