Retired or Re-tired

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis

Retirement has been a part of our culture since the late 19th century. The earliest history of the word goes back to 13 B.C. when the Roman emperor, Augustus, began paying pensions to Roman Legionnaires who had served 20 years. Keep in mind the average life span was 30 to 40 years. Good bet for the emperor! The literal meaning is to “leave company and go to bed.” Retirement, or the practice of ceasing to work after reaching a certain age, has been adopted by most countries. The U.S. Congress passed the Social Security Act in 1935 to provide benefits to retirees based on their earnings history. The typical life expectancy in 1935 was 61 years. The magic number of 65 meant that the Federal Government would only need to pay an average of four years. Today, we are not only concerned about finances, but also about what we will do with the time we have left.

Think with me about re-framing that word retired. Like the retread put on a worn-out tire, we could be re-tired and live out another life of productivity and adventure. Merriam-Webster says, “retread is to bond a new surface to a worn tire or something made in a slightly altered form or remake.” With some new tread, we can re-invent ourselves, re-create a career, re-store our sense of value and contribution. Also, we can rest when we choose! Some retirees work because they need to financially, but others find that a second career is as gratifying or even more so than their first career.  We dare not settle for the rocking chair too soon, or our health will be seriously jeopardized. Staying active is the most critical health factor after 60. In the 1930s and ‘40s, the vast majority of workers labored in agriculture or manufacturing, and when age 65 came, they were happy to rest for their remaining years. We’ve spent our working years at desk jobs. We might have become bored or stressed with work, but our bodies are not necessarily physically depleted. Let’s not “leave company and go to bed”; let’s make our plans to get some new tread and take to the highways of life!