A Unique Time to Write an Entirely New Chapter

A friend recently retired at age 66. He had not expected to retire yet, but then something happened that changed his mind. He had spent most of his life investing and managing other people’s money. Much of it was for retirement planning. He had one client, 62, who had saved and managed his money quite well over the years and was looking forward to his retirement at age 65 with more than adequate funding for him and his family. He had lots of travel plans and other ideas for how he would spend his “golden years.” Unfortunately, the client died quite suddenly and unexpectedly. Shortly thereafter, my friend decided to retire, saying to himself that “there is more to life than going to work every day.” Sometimes we need a shock to wake us up.

He has read my book and knows about my dedication to later-life health, so we chatted about his pivotal decision and future plans. He mentioned his uncertainty about how to best spend his retirement years. I encouraged him not to rush into anything and wait until an answer came from inside. I told him, as I wrote about last week, (TAO of Later Life) that this can be a magnificent time of life, far different from the decline that is often painted. We also agreed that extremely good health was a prerequisite to everything else.

This Utterly Unique Time of Life

 As I’ve also written about elsewhere and in my book, the life that I’ve come to know in my 60s and 70s is qualitatively different than anything else that had come before. This is because life is more precious at this stage, knowing that it is part of my last years of life on this planet, and because it has afforded me the time and opportunity to be more genuine and in touch with my inner being, which my working years didn’t allow. To me, this is the magical combination that keeps me going, doing, training, looking after my health, and enjoying a kind of peacefulness that eluded me until now. It’s not just “taking time off” or relaxing. It’s as if I’m meant to be spending lots of unscheduled and unplanned time to embrace this feeling of peacefulness and explore the wonder and appreciation of just being alive and healthy, able to fully embrace the world inside and outside of me.

I’ve known quite a few people, including myself when I was younger, who live their lives as if accumulating credits for their biography; new positions and achievements. While that might make for an impressive obituary it is not the kind of retirement I am living. That one is discovering the person I am without (or before) the positions or the status or the achievement — the genuine, authentic, universal and organic me.

The Real Secret of a Life Well Lived

I’m paraphrasing something I’ve read, maybe from Marcel Proust, in saying that the real secret of a life well lived is not seeing new landscapes but seeing the same landscape with a different pair of eyes. In other words, new inner vistas and channels open, which change how we see things outside of us. We become the vehicle through which our life is lived, not our jobs or status or roles in the outside world. This is the life I am living now, one that is possible to anyone who cares to follow their own lead in that direction.

A few people may see this truth—this real secret to a life well lived—early in life. But I would venture that it is most often accessible as we get older and particularly once we appreciate the mortality of our lives, from about 60 on.

Have you found that life has become simpler, more focused and grounded, less frenetic and scheduled in your later-life years? Have you experienced greater appreciation for your life as well as for your circle of family and friends? Have you found that you’re a bit wiser now, and you can see—really see—things you couldn’t see before? I believe this is the best time of life! I also know that good health is essential to this journey. In fact, health IS the journey, because it enables us to get in tune and in touch with the “landscape” inside of us and around us.