Semiretirement: You Are Probably Not Enjoying It

 "This time, finally you are working for income on your own terms (more or less)."

That's what I explain to the semiretired during tarot readings. 

All too often, though, they are stuck in the Five of Cups Mindset: regretting supposed mistakes back in their former career days. That preoccupation with the past or crying over Spilled Milk - cups symbolize emotion - can extend from when they chose a line of work after high school/major in college to strategic decisions on the job/operating their own business. 

Obviously, they are not in the now, being there to enjoy finally earning income more on their own terms. For instance, they are free to ditch that job or stop operating that small online business and take up another way to bring in some money. Yet, they don't own that new stress-free state of being. Actually they tend "apologize" for no longer being on a career track. They obsessively talk about what they used to do when at the peak of their earning years. 

So, what is this all about? To me the tarot reader it represents a memory lapse. The semiretired forget the pressures of the "rat race," as we Boomers used to describe the daily competitive grind of "managing a career." 

Part of liberation of being non-career is no longer being caught in the painful force field of comparing yourself with everyone else in:

Compensation

Title 

Prestige 

Higher education credentials

Number of promotions

Being terminated or not.

Instead, during semiretirement, working plays out as:

Having the additional income so you're not having to be in high angst when spending, even for necessities. Yes, there can even be pay raises. And promotions. But you have to be emotionally there, present in the current employment or self-employment reality. 

Trying out offbeat jobs. One client, a former corporate middle manager in Pharma, always wanted to rescue animals. First volunteering, they found their way into a part-time town animal control position. "What a sense of accomplishment," I am told, "to spot a stray on the mean streets, feed them, groom them, socialize them for adoption and put on the wall the photo of 'going home with a new family.'"

Doing the labor without continually assessing what "they" think of you. There are plenty of other non-career employment slots that you can grab if you're "forced out" of this one. How much do you have to care if HR calls you in to tell you that you didn't pay enough attention to detail as a security guard in a big box and you are canned? Next time you focus on employment which doesn't require that skill. 

Not networking with the "right" contacts. After work you can have a beer with any co-worker. Power bonding, not needed. 

Leaving work at work. Before and after those hours you can develop your own interests. 

Not stressing about whether or not to exit a toxic environment. No one is going to go over your resume and balk about "so many job changes." You become the warm body they need. Treasure that detached positioning in capitalism. 

With so much going for semiretirement there is no reason, aside from those health concerns, why you can't continue bringing in extra income until your 80s or even your early 90s. You are working and that can feel so good, if you allow in that source of joy. 

Need a resource on how to not totally retire or unretire? Here is my blog on semiretirement per se. In addition on this award-winning podcast I explain how not to shoot yourself in the foot when searching for work as you age. 

Jane Genova * Tarot Card Reader * Intuitive Coach * Medium.

Opening Yourself to Relief from Suffering.

Deep Listening and No-Nonsense Direction

For an appointment, please contact janegenova374@gmail.com or text/phone 203-468-8579.