We generally think of ‘retirement’ as the line dividing our ‘working
years’ from our ‘not working years’ (or at least, a time when we don’t have
to work for a living). I think retirement is a false distinction, one
that has taken on enormous importance in people’s lives and that can be
a fulcrum for either new possibilities and positive changes or profound
resignation and negative changes.

I think ‘retirement’ is a false distinction because ‘work’ is itself
a false distinction. It’s easy to see that for some people ‘work’ is
‘play’ (because it is what they love to do), while for others it’s a
strategy for something else. ‘Work’ is just a word. We,
as individuals, define what is and is not work, and our interpretations
are based on the assessments we make about what they’re doing. Of
course, when we don’t like what we’re doing or when we don’t think we
have a choice about it, then work becomes a kind of indentured labor.
In this case, retirement is seen as a welcome escape.

If we think about life in terms of circumstances, then work is about
having the circumstances in our lives be what we want—whether that’s
providing for our family, having lots of toys, or achieving power,
prestige and all the attendant positive and negative factors that come
with success in our society.

Retirement is the time when we imagine having the time and space to
reap the rewards of our careers and experience the ‘good life’.
Unfortunately for many, the ‘good life’ in retirement becomes a
conversation all about the ‘good old days’, a reliving of the past
filled with sadness and tinged with regret that the future will not be
as fulfilling, exciting or enlivening.

But retirement really has little to do with our status as employees
and everything to do with our relationship with ourselves and with the
world. On that basis, we could choose to redefine ‘work’ as simply the means to realize our dreams.

So what would it be like if you saw work as the process of realizing
your dreams, a process which never ends as long as you have a vision
and a commitment to creating a future you want?