This is the last issue of our newsletter! 16

4 years

43 contributing writers

170 articles

Who knew where our tales of retirement would take us when we published the first issue over four years ago? Tales of purpose and passion, disorientation, the art of recovery, love, money fears, wattles and wrinkles, loss, Bob Dylan, and groundhogs.  Lists and blank pages, onions, unexpected job loss, job burnout, creativity, great expectations, monkeys, retirement trepidation, and spiders.

We bounced around.  Partners, grandchildren, daily structure and self-determination.  Old key rings, dreams, downsizing, graveyards, protecting our personal space, sleeping in, and the anguish of a friend.  Giving something back, exchanging cash for time, hip surgery, the puritan work ethic, hospices, healthy aging, balance, just saying ‘no,’ and drunken matadors.

And on… to creating a new identity, inertia, grief, getting to a full stop, sharing chores, bagpipes, vanity, stripping down to the essentials, and liver and onions.  And let’s not forget mortality, resilience, chronic illness, co-living, contentment, legacy, and tomato sandwiches.  How far and wide we have travelled together!

I’m so sad that this is the last issue of the Retiring with Purpose and Passion newsletter.  At least for the foreseeable future. (I’m still coaching and offering workshops though!)

Our first issue was published on August 1, 2014, and now, four years and 40 issues later, the newsletter is ending.  Between me and 42 contributing writers, we’ve posted 170 articles, not to mention the treasures offered by the many Doggerel Cup Contest entrants, survey respondents, people who posted comments on the blog, and our editors.

Why is this the last issue?

For a long while now, I have wanted to write a book about finding purpose and passion in retirement.  However, being so busy with the newsletter, my retirement workshops, retirement/life coaching, and general backsliding, I haven’t found the time.  So, I’m setting aside the newsletter.  I’m going to focus!

The timing is good for pulling together the book; I have most of a year before my partner retires. After that, the quiet home office will not be quiet anymore.  And, although I’ll continue with workshops and coaching, I’m not convinced that I’ll be master of my time. Now is my window of opportunity. (My brother-in-law continues to tease me about not having a more solid plan for my retirement.  I tell him these things take time.  I tell him I’m marinating in the period of disorientation.)

Did the newsletter succeed in its purpose?

The purpose of the newsletter was “to inspire, inform, and embolden people thinking about retiring or recently retired.”  Its focus was emotional and social well-being in retirement. It was meant to give confidence, remove fears, and prepare people for what was to come. Its end goal was to shorten the period of disorientation that can come after the retirement honeymoon phase.

Did the newsletter succeed in its purpose?  One way to judge is to look for open discussion of the broad range of challenges people face during the retirement process.  Although each person’s retirement story was different, I discovered repeating themes:

• Dealing with unexpected retirement (due to being let go, layoffs, illness, etc.)
• Reasserting positive emotions, self-esteem, and a good frame of mind
• Managing money worries
• Dealing with illness, new limitations, and death
• Creating a new identity
• Finding purpose, well-being, and happiness; finding ways to contribute
• Rebuilding routines
• Adjusting relationships at home and with work colleagues
• Struggling with the creative urge
• Balancing ‘work’ and play

Another way to measure the success of the newsletter is to search for lessons learned. We learn best is through other’s stories, blunders, experiences, and wisdom.  Every contributor was asked to tell what they learned from their progress into retirement.  Their stories were full of insights and hard-earned lessons.  You just have to read the four ‘Gems of the year’ columns for a quick summary.  Underpinning the personal retirement stories were articles presenting theories, research studies, and statistics that showed how to age well and how to create meaning and well-being in retirement.

To me, these measures indicate that the newsletter was a success.  I know I’ve learned a lot.

A nifty side benefit of the newsletter – for the contributors – was that almost every one of them told me that they had found the process beneficial, therapeutic even.

Only you, the readers, can tell me if the articles gave you confidence going into retirement and whether they shortened the period of disorientation that you experienced after your retirement honeymoon phase.

Series Writers
(number of articles each)

Thank you, those of you who wrote a series of articles.  You were generous in opening your lives to us, you thought deeply about what retirement meant to you, and you were frank about what you learned. You sometimes revisited dark memories, presenting your experiences with elegance and humour. All so we could learn and be entertained.

1. Following Frank into Retirement by Frank (17) – A series of articles starting 5 months prior to retirement through to 4 years into retirement
2. Helen, Heading Out by Helen (11) – A  series of articles about recreating identity after an all-consuming career
3. Tales of an Overachieving Retiree by Peter (5) – A series of articles about the challenges of bringing overachievement into retirement and finding pleasure in the process
4. Craving a Dog’s Life by Renate (3) – A series of articles about finding a pathway towards a simpler life, one that is less focused on structure and more on love, compassion, daily walks, and treats
5. Phil Dives into Retirement by Phil McCavity [pseudonym] (5) – A series of articles about transitioning from a very structured professional life
6. Reinventing Barb by Barb Carriere (3) – A series of articles about reinventing life after job loss
7. My Journey by Nancy (3) – A series of articles about being given working notice shortly before retirement
8. Thoughts from a Retirement Coach (31); Studies, Stats, and Stuff (33); Doggerel Cup, Gems of the Year, etc. (18) by Mariella Vigneux

Tales of Retirement Contributors
(number of articles each)

What a privilege and joy it has been receiving the personal stories from those who wrote for the Tales of Retirement column. Thank you, all!

1. Amy Cousineau (2)
2. Ann Munsch (1)
3. Anson Laytner (4)
4. Brad Morley (3)
5. Christine Warltier (1) and two-time winner of the prestigious Doggerel Cup Limerick Contest
6. Claude Lafreniere (1)
7. Don Kellett (1)
8. Donna Beatty (1)
9. Donna McCaw (1)
10. Fiona McConachie (1)
11. Hazel Lyder (1)
12. Janis Tomkinson(1)
13. Jean Murphy (1)
14. Jill Watson (1)
15. Jim A. Dixon (1)
16. Joan Hoban (1)
17. Josette Vigneux (1)
18. Judy Callahan (2)
19. Linda Schnabel (1)
20. Mark (3)
21. Martin (1)
22. Maryse Lafreniere (2)
23. Pat O’Connor (1)
24. Pauline Hodge (2)
25. Peter Follett (1)
26. Rose Morley (4)
27. Ruth Morris (1)
28. Shirley Forton (1)

Guest Writers for the Studies, Stats, and Stuff Column
(number of articles each)

It took significant research, study, and years of experience to come up with the special articles you – our guest writers – wrote.  Thank you for being the professionals you are.

1. Bret Maukonen (1)
2. Catherine M. Miller (1)
3. Ellen Crymble (1)
4. Jill Watson (1)
5. Kathy Underwood (2)
6. Lynne Maukonen (1)
7. Luc Cousineau (1)

Unstinting Editors

Thank you, Mark, Suzanne, Sylvie and Timothy, for your steadfast editorial support for this newsletter.  I deeply appreciate how you skillfully edited, polished, and refined the articles each issue – doing what you could, when you could – and adapting to some crazy-tight deadlines.

Mark, you have been a real trooper to hang in there from the first to the last issue. You caught so many slipups.  You willingly joined me in punctuation debates.  And you brought forward perspectives that made the articles shine.

The book

My big sister tells me that the newsletter articles need a wider audience. I agree.  Hence, the book idea.

The book will serve the same purpose as the newsletter – to inspire, embolden, and inform – but, as well as including some of your stories and my articles, it will incorporate material from my retirement workshop.  Don’t hold me to this, but I think the book will be organized around the most common themes/questions/challenges that surface in retirement.

In pulling together the book, I will have the pleasure of rereading all the articles again.  In this way I can decide which ones best illustrate the points I’m trying to make.  (And, of course, I won’t use any of your stories without your consent.)

So, I’m saying goodbye for now.  I may contact you if I’m floundering over some retirement issue for the book (or myself!) and need your input.  Also, if a tasty retirement tidbit falls into my lap and screams out to be distributed, I’ll send it to you.  Until then, enjoy the retirement process!  And keep asking yourself the question posed by poet Mary Oliver: What will you do with this one wild and precious life?

Warm regards,
Mariella Hoy

P.S.  Most of you know me as Mariella Vigneux, however, I’ve changed my last name to Hoy.  (I have the same partner – of 42 years – and have simply reclaimed my birth name.)