The Pits and Pieces

Some phrases that you come across, in reading or listening, stick with you and rattle around in your head. Here’s one from a Portuguese poet (unknown) that I’m paraphrasing: You are what you’ve been,  but you also are what you haven’t been. Here’s another from the novel BLACK CAKE by Charmaine Wilkerson: “ Sometimes, the stories we don’t tell people about ourselves matter even more than the things we say .” Both speak of the gaps, the silences, the unspoken, the things not done, the path taken and not taken. What have we not been because of conscious choice, or missed opportunity, or resistance, or worse – because of fear? It’s easy to interpret this in a broad, vague sense: I have not been an astronaut. I have not been a pilot or an underwater explorer. I have not been to Antarctica. But that’s too simple. There are many things we haven’t been because those things have never beckoned. But what about those that did? What about those that hovered on the edge of our conscious

  At the start of the year, I made the decision that this year I would ‘retire’.   I have been on a phased retirement track, working three days a week, for a couple of years now. But what does it actually mean to ‘retire’? The dictionary defines retirement as: “ Withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from active working life ” . The word ‘retirement’ seems outdated and  has a lot of negative connotations in an ageist society hell-bent on productivity. What does it mean to withdraw from active working life ? To give up an occupation you are skilled at, and have been doing for many, many years? I know I won’t be looking for ways to fill my time, because I do have plenty of options. In the past couple of years, I have been adding to my interests. But the transition for many retirees is difficult because for so long they have been doing something they’re good at, and for which they’ve received accolades and recognition. When they retire, they’re at the top of their game,