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Retirement and Saying Goodbye
Apr. 27th, 2024 03:16 pm When I was in Sweden last week, I had a chance to spend time with two friends from other countries who were brought in for my PhD students's defense. The defense was awesome and I had a lot of fun with my friends who served an examination role. Among the things that came up in conversation was retirement and that left me reeling. I realize this is one of the signs of getting older and being a part of these conversation made me feel so much older than I think I am.
It's not that I have not heard people talking of retirement, but they have not been people I consider my age peers. I have another friend from the Netherlands who is retiring in 2025 as he will be 67 which is the mandatory retirement age for state jobs/university positions in many European countries. These two friends I talked with in Sweden are in their 50s but older than me. M is an American based in Spain and is 58 (59 later this year). She longs to retire at 65 but will have to retire at 67, so that is 9 years of work. B is from Ireland and is 55 (56 later this year) so only 5 years older than me. He was not talking about longing for retirement as much as being practical about it. His plan is to retire to Spain, where his wife is from.
Retirement has always felt like an impossibility to me and hearing my friends talk about it made me not only feel self-conscious of my age but also made me feel a kind of grief. When my academic friends retire, I won't be seeing them at conferences and grant meetings and dissertation defenses. There won't be a reason for us to come together. They will be in their homes, living on more fixed incomes and spending time with their grandchildren and families. They aren't likely to come to the US (B's wife is too terrified to travel here as she is afraid of being shot) so the only chance I will have to see them is if I happen to travel to their cities.
Retirement was never on my mind in my 40s, but with just a few years, it is now a reality. I am not prepared for it. I never imagined myself retiring and i have an unfortunate view of the/my future that I think retirement will be painful, challenging and lonely so I don't long for it. I once thought I would work until I die, but I have adjusted my expectations as I have aged.I expect I will be forced to retire because my mind and/or body will give out and I will need step aside to make room for someone who can teach and research and guide young people.
I have thought about going on a talk circuit and still being active by doing freelance work in different ways as a way to finance travel through my later years. But climate change and the uncertainty of the future is blocking my planning - will there be travel bans and boycotts of Americans, will I be able to afford the carbon tax for unnecessary travel, will there be too many wars for travel to be desirable. I should plan for this anyway so I have something to possibly do that gives me joy. Another thing I should plan for is to make sure I see my friends as much as I can before they retire and things change.
It's not that I have not heard people talking of retirement, but they have not been people I consider my age peers. I have another friend from the Netherlands who is retiring in 2025 as he will be 67 which is the mandatory retirement age for state jobs/university positions in many European countries. These two friends I talked with in Sweden are in their 50s but older than me. M is an American based in Spain and is 58 (59 later this year). She longs to retire at 65 but will have to retire at 67, so that is 9 years of work. B is from Ireland and is 55 (56 later this year) so only 5 years older than me. He was not talking about longing for retirement as much as being practical about it. His plan is to retire to Spain, where his wife is from.
Retirement has always felt like an impossibility to me and hearing my friends talk about it made me not only feel self-conscious of my age but also made me feel a kind of grief. When my academic friends retire, I won't be seeing them at conferences and grant meetings and dissertation defenses. There won't be a reason for us to come together. They will be in their homes, living on more fixed incomes and spending time with their grandchildren and families. They aren't likely to come to the US (B's wife is too terrified to travel here as she is afraid of being shot) so the only chance I will have to see them is if I happen to travel to their cities.
Retirement was never on my mind in my 40s, but with just a few years, it is now a reality. I am not prepared for it. I never imagined myself retiring and i have an unfortunate view of the/my future that I think retirement will be painful, challenging and lonely so I don't long for it. I once thought I would work until I die, but I have adjusted my expectations as I have aged.I expect I will be forced to retire because my mind and/or body will give out and I will need step aside to make room for someone who can teach and research and guide young people.
I have thought about going on a talk circuit and still being active by doing freelance work in different ways as a way to finance travel through my later years. But climate change and the uncertainty of the future is blocking my planning - will there be travel bans and boycotts of Americans, will I be able to afford the carbon tax for unnecessary travel, will there be too many wars for travel to be desirable. I should plan for this anyway so I have something to possibly do that gives me joy. Another thing I should plan for is to make sure I see my friends as much as I can before they retire and things change.
