Goldilocks had
the right idea.
Full-time work ... too hard;
Full-time retirement ... too soft;
Semi-retirement ... just right!
Claire N. Barnes, MA
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myfavoriteteachersf.com
Yesterday I was offered a part time job, and on October
3rd, I will change my retired status to semi-retired.
I’ve struggled with full-time retirement. I’ve read the
articles and books; researched employment possibilities;
agonized over the gap between what I am qualified to do
and what I am willing to do; edited my long (too long!)
resume; talked with acquaintances and family members;
and followed my own intuitive direction.
Like Goldilocks who struggled to find something just
right, I believe I may have found a satisfactory fit for me.
Importantly, after I accepted the new position, I was able to
tell my husband, I’ve come to understand I’m not entirely
ready to close my professional toolkit.
It was easy for our grandparents. If they lived long
enough they eased into senior citizen status without
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questioning their role in their family, their community
or society. I have a picture of my grandmother
nearby. She baked cookies and put on her hat every
Sunday and went to church. She was an accomplished
school superintendent as a young woman, but once
she married a man with six children, there was no
question she would walk away from her career and
devote herself entirely to family. She fulfilled that role
heroically until the end of her life.
My mother was an educator who juggled a work
life balance, including that of a single parent when
my father died. She worked past retirement age (with
school board approval of course), then entered a
vigorous second act wholeheartedly committed to her
family. She lived for her children and grandchildren,
who came along relatively late in her life. I never heard
her express a longing to fulfill a bucket list of things
she wanted to do, and her social security and teacher’s
retirement comfortably supported her lifestyle.
I am now the same age as my mother when she
finally retired. And yet I have not been content to just
be. I have felt like I am missing out on possibilities
where I might continue to be invigorated, stimulated
and challenged. Most importantly, the life priority of
quantifiably contributing to the well-being of others
is an element which has been absent from my life
over the past year. And as a Boomer, I have more
information on how I can stay involved with life —
to blog, to travel, to create, to study, to teach, to
mentor and so on.
Finding an environment which is a good fit
required me to develop the proverbial checklist.
First, I put my ego aside and acknowledged I no longer
desired elevated positions. I’ve fulfilled wonderful
professional and volunteer accomplishments, but the
stressful price was very real. Additionally, I realized I
needed to be out of the house interacting with people
contrasted with stay-at-home work in my pajamas or
tracksuit. And finally, finding