Who will I be...?

For millennia young people, most often men (until recently) have gone off to "seek their fortune" sometimes combined with "finding adventure". At some juncture in the last century, that morphed into going off to "find oneself". Of course, the point of all that searching and adventuring was to shape an adult identity, prove oneself capable of independence and, if you survived, take on a position as a responsible member of society. But, has that ever really been the end of the story?

For much of the time since the notion of "retirement" was introduced in Western societies, the phase of life after work was short and intended for well-deserved leisure. That's no longer the case given ever expanding lifespans and healthspans. Instead, we have the opportunity, if we choose it, to once again go off to "find ourselves", seek adventure, let different aspects of our full selves shine. Whatever we decide do will reshape our identity, sometimes dramatically.

So who will you become in your post career life?

5 Common Concerns about Retirement & Smart Suggestions to Solve Them, highlights the fear of losing one's identity when retired as an unexpected outlier in the responses to my 2023 survey about retirement. The relevant excerpt is included below.

To get the full picture, download your FREE copy of 5 Common Concerns about Retirement and learn what people are really seeking when they set off in later life to find themselves.

Is Identity Loss Really So Scary?

A loss of identity in retirement was ranked low by respondents, with only 22% saying that was something they feared. This is interesting because loss of identity is often cited as one of the top things that people fear when they retire.

Any of life’s big transitions can be expected to affect our sense of identity. Retirement is just one of them. Consider: starting your first “real “job, getting married, having children, divorcing, starting a business, switching careers, and so on. These can all be times of tremendous personal growth that often change how we see ourselves. By the time we retire, we’ve probably experienced several shifts in identity.

But for many people, their work identity becomes central to their being. This can be especially true for those who:

? place work first throughout their career;

? get their greatest fulfillment from work;

? are passionate about their work and see it as a calling;

? see work as the one thing they’re really good at.

Perhaps the reason identity is often cited as a central issue in retiring is because people who have dedicated themselves so fully to their career – not uncommon is our culture – have the hardest time letting go. If they do, they certainly may struggle to reinvent themselves.

However, if our sense of identity is a byproduct of what we do and what we think of what we do, perhaps reinvention happens naturally when we change what we do and how we think about it.

The low ranking of “loss of identity” in the ULeadU Survey of Thoughts and Attitudes on Retirement may suggest that many people realize that finding purpose and new ambition aligned with the right structure and routine, plus a supportive community, are the basis of establishing a new identity post-career that’s just as powerful as the old one. And in knowing that, we rightly fear the loss of those building blocks more than a loss of identity in the transition out of the workaday world.

What You Can Do

For 4 solid tips on how to start reshaping your identity after leaving work behind, download your FREE copy of 5 Common Concerns About Retirement and head to page 10.

An early heads-up about something new from ULeadU

Over the last several months I've been thinking about and testing a new service I'm excited to soon offer publicly. For now, I'm just going to say it's about building community with like minded people at all stages of the retirement journey who are thoughtfully exploring the terrain and want to learn from and share their discoveries with fellow travellers. The concept is simple but I've discovered the impact can be profound.

Stay tuned for all the details coming soon..