Retirement
Photo by:Ante Hamersmit https://unsplash.com/@ante_kante
After years of performing a role on a daily basis, what will life be like without the role? This is the scenario that is understood as retirement but it is one that can happen outside the workplace. It could be felt after children leave the house, when medical issues change or when a person decides to make a change in their life.
For myself, I was facing this issue when I was thirty four years old and brain surgery resolved the seizures that had been with me for twenty four years. Before the surgery, I was scared of who I'd be without the constant responsibility to keep me alert. What would happen to all the purpose I established from that experience? Would all the skills I collected no longer have meaning? If I was known as the person who kept going after a seizure, how would I be known without them? Who would I be without the constant role I used to play? Would I still be the person I'm meant to be?
I learned that when a chapter in life ends, it's time to face yourself without the costumes and get to know yourself without anyone else. Before any questions can be answered or a new direction found, I had to be willing to be the unknowing child learning anew to sense myself clearly. I had to let go of what I held onto from my past to make room for new opportunities.
With years of experimentation and exploration after my seizures were resolved, I realize that I'm on a different discovery road similar to the one I walked when my life with seizures began. I'm now traveling with different knowledge and aspirations, the same person who walked the previous road with a new direction to grow into who I'm meant to be today. Chapters end and start anew but the journey doesn't end until the book is complete. I am still young and not of retirement age, but I do relate to the retirement experience and I'm gifted to know that I'm here to continue growing with new aspirations.
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