The Questions We Must Answer Before Retirement

No matter where we look, when the subject is retirement, it is likely represented by happy, attractive people enjoying this period of life to the fullest! Whether on the pickleball court, in chairs side-by-side staring contentedly at the gorgeous sunset or happily interacting with perfect grandchildren, it all looks divine! The trouble is that is rarely the reality.      

Retirement is about both endings and beginnings, loss and gain, self-discovery as well as just being more of who you’ve always known you are.

You may no longer be attached to a profession, title or role, so you may ask yourself, if I’m not that, who am I? Good news- the answer is up to you. Imagine you have a blank slate in front of you and you get to decide some or all of how you will write on it. Here are some questions to get you started:

• What do you want more of in this phase of life? Less of? Never again?

• What have you been neglecting that you need to/want to focus on?

• Are there any aspects of your professional life that you want to stay active in? Maybe as a consultant or a volunteer?

• What relationships do you want to improve, revive or start?

Remember you are the same human with the same skills and interests that you had prior to retiring- you are just going to use them differently (or ‘not at all’  is okay too!)      

This will be a trial and error process as there will be some parts of this journey that will surprise you. You will enjoy some things you did not expect to and some of the things you were most excited about will leave you cold. All normal in the learning process you are in. Yes, the old dog can-and should- learn new tricks.   

Give yourself space and time to build this next phase of your life piece by piece. Just like you were the new person in every new job you took in your career, you are new at retirement. And yes, you likely have more aches and pains during this time in in your life, you also have decades of knowledge and wisdom that still holds great value. And you get to decide what to do with it! Woo!

Julie Bauke is a Career Coach and national media expert, workshop facilitator, and keynote speaker. Julie has been featured by more than 100 prominent media outlets including CNBC’s PowerLunch and MONEY Magazine, and on multiple TV segments with the Scripps News Network and Sinclair Broadcasting. Locally, she can be heard weekly on 700WLW as the Career Sherpa with Scott Sloan. She is the author of Stop Peeing on Your Shoes: Avoiding the 7 Mistakes that Screw Up Your Job Search and the upcoming book Career Happy! to be released in early 2027.