Isn't It Ironic?

Wow! I actually did it!

I've posted before about how baby boomers are going to change perceptions regarding retirement, basically by choosing to pursue a secondary, or encore, career that aligns with a personal goal or passion. And, guess what! I have managed to do just that. Ain't it great when a plan works?

After fifteen years at a job in which my role had become mundane and dealing with serious personal issues at the same time, I was beginning to feel like my life had become a movie — which made me feel really old. 

The movie was "Finnegan Begin Again," starring Robert Preston and Mary Tyler Moore. (It got really bad promotion, because it's a sweet movie — about old people.) For those who have seen it, I felt I was living the life of the Robert Preston character, Mike. Ironic, in a Freudian sense.

Then, ironically, the communications medium I had declared an invasion of privacy — and the first step in the loss of civil liberty — gave me my heart's desire... the dream job... the encore career. The National World War I Museum was wanting to fill a position, for which I was uniquely suited. And, I knew this because I admired the Museum and "liked" its Facebook page. 

Again ironically, the 15 years of experience at a career I had come to loathe was instrumental in helping me get my dream job. The seniority I held at that job turned out to be leadership in an induced coma. I'm pretty sure there has to be a beatitude that covers this. And, if there isn't, there should be.

The plan had turned out to be the right direction, after all. The belief had been real. I feel I am making a living without working. How many people get to say that and mean it? 

The definition of irony is life. 

The Retirement of Retirement

And, in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. ~ Abraham Lincoln

My purpose of this blog always has been to remind baby boomers that we are rewriting the rules with regard to aging and, more specifically, retirement, probably setting a standard that will be followed for many decades. More and more, I'm seeing news articles and book titles about "encore" careers and how the baby boomers are not willing — or, perhaps, financially able — to just step out of the work force onto the golf course. This year, my own personal focus will be on preparing for my second career of being a nutrition counselor, which I'm hoping will become a paying gig eventually. 

When we were young, we were asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Our answers were usually based on who our current hero figure happened to be, but they would generally run along the lines of fireman, astronaut, President. Of course, by our teens, we had come to mistrust all authority and wanted to be rock stars, hippies or President. I'm positive I would never have answered with, "I want to be a nutrition counselor." But, through the years, I've discovered interests — and talents, even — in areas that weren't appealing back in my youth. We women fought hard to get out of the kitchen and into the boardroom. Following a career in food preparation and nutrition would have felt like taking a step backward.

Yet, here I am, at an age I previously considered a winding-down period, instead taking on a new challenge of college courses in nutrition. And, luckily for me, the timing couldn't be better in terms of opportunity. The new "plague" of obesity that threatens to lower life expectancy in just one more generation, even with our medical advances, has baby boomer tattooed all over it. How we loved that we could drive right up to a window and purchase an inexpensive family dinner... loved it so much, people stopped cooking! It was great, right up to the point where we are now — overweight, diabetic and dying from heart disease. It's like a line from the old Laurel and Hardy movies, "Well, this is a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into." As a self-respecting, activist child of the 60's, I couldn't simply walk away from that revelation, and I just happen to be in the market for a new career path. Eureka!   

We believed we could change the world and, for better or worse, we did. Now is the time for boomers to look at those changes and determine how to capitalize on what works and fix what doesn't. It's a golden time for entrepreneurship as technology continues to make working from home more efficient than maintaining office space. We all need to brush the cobwebs off that activism spirit that shaped history and find the hero our childhood aspirations once told us we could be. I'm pretty sure there were very few young boomers who answered the question of what they wanted to be when they grew up with, "I want to commute two hours each day to an office without windows and be in a lot of meetings." 

Granted, it's a given the opportunities for becoming firemen or astronauts at our age are highly unlikely... although hippy could still be a viable possibility. But, there are strong signs that the second career opportunities for baby boomers are going to be much more substantial than a lot of folks were expecting. AARP put together a list of second career suggestions, some of which don't even require a degree. Kerry Hannon, a freelance writer for Forbes, has written a couple of books about choosing a new path that can offer the fulfillment you deserve and the compensation you need. In a column, titled "Why You Should Start Your Second Verse Now," she offered some sound suggestions on how to find your passion and inspiration.

"You've got three choices in life: give up, give in or give it all you've got." ~ Unknown

My dad had a cap that had the word "Retired" embroidered over the rim. He wore it everywhere. For him, just being able to retire was a goal. But, his generation survived the Great Depression, non-treatable diseases and two World Wars. Today, retirement shouldn't define who we are; it should be a embarkation platform from one journey to another. Use your retirement to rediscover the adventuresome fearlessness of youth, tap into all the knowledge and experience you've acquired in your maturity and become the hero you dreamed of being all those years ago. We've changed the world throughout our entire lives. Let's not buy into the age-old cycle of "live, work, retire, die"... not when we have this incredible moment in time for creating a new cycle of "dream, learn, become, empower." 

You can't help getting older. But, you don't have to get old. ~ George Burns

The Geezer Boom

But, I can only find out by trying. And, if it turns out I haven't courage enough, we'll soon know it. ~ "The Best Years of Our Lives"

Wow! I was amazed to see that I haven’t blogged since February 15!! What can I say? My life went into overdrive around the second week of March, and it hasn’t let up for one minute since. And, I guess, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have participated in a paranormal investigation, tried four new restaurants, done volunteer work, read three books, and maintained my workout schedule, while working and taking care of normal daily chores, not to mention having to play catch up on yard work after a mild winter and early spring. I am only slightly disappointed that I haven’t lived up to the New Year’s resolution of posting to my blog at least once a month, because the good news is living up to the other resolutions has be the primary reason for failure to keep this one. How are you doing on yours? I’d love to hear about your successes!

As I was doing some reading regarding Baby Boomers aging, I was astonished to find an article in The Gerontologist, titled “Not Your Mother’s Old Age,” that cited 39 different manuscripts on the subject. A community newspaper in Seattle reported about a summit conducted at South Seattle Community College during which boomers were able to voice what they wanted and needed from the community as they age. There can be little doubt that our generation is establishing brand new perceptions on the so-called golden years. An article in InfoWorld stated: I would love to know how you are making the most of the best years of your life.

“The aging of the baby boomer generation will spur technological innovation and change the entire health-care system,” age researcher Joseph Coughlin said Friday, speaking at a panel discussion on health care and technology sponsored by the New England Business and Technology Association.

Get ready world. You are entering the era of The Geezer Boom.

As I recently told a friend of mine who, in true baby boomer form has decided to learn how to pilot a plane, we make growing old look good. And, I personally think the biggest disparity from past generations is with baby boomer women. Martha Nelson, 65-year-old author of Black Chokeberry, a novel about three disparate older women coming together to share a home, said,

"We’re more worldly, stronger, financially savvy and healthier than our ancestors – through no fault of their own – and we know what we want.”

Yes, we certainly do. Have you recently noticed more ads on TV featuring older women with realistic body measurements? That’s because marketers and advertisers know 80% of baby boomer women control 80% of the wealth in the United States. 

The most important thing, however, is that we realize that, just as our demographic has impacted huge societal change through every stage of our lives, what we do as “geezers” will determine the process of aging for our children and grandchildren. We need to be responsible, yet innovative. As a demographic, we wield enormous power. But, with power, in any capacity, comes responsibility. Our descendants will live longer than we do. We need to make sure their “golden years” are just as exciting and fulfilling as we will inevitably make ours. We need to set the standard for aging. Let me know what you’re doing to set the standard for making growing older look good.