Battling the Decadence of Unhindered Time: Embracing Retirement with Intentional Habits

Dovetailing the twilight of a career with the dawn of retirement requires imagination and purpose. If you do not plan well, the intensity can force your dinghy into rough and uncharted waters. The transition to retirement isn’t for the faint-hearted.

Going from days filled with meetings to finding solace in the simplicity of sunlit afternoons, from being good at anticipating market trends to learning new skills to enhance yourself, and from productivity focused on others to inner satisfaction is scary at best and depression-inducing at worst. Curating an inventory of habits long before retirement gives you the ability to steer your dinghy to shore in a purposeful way.

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Here’s my story.

For four decades, my life was filled with to-do lists that took anywhere from 14-16 hours a day to complete. A myriad of responsibilities woven with kids and a husband who needed attention, aging parents requiring care, and friends ready to have fun left little free time. Add to that weekly professional travels, creating a level of insanity that required constant planning at every step of the way. Life moved at a dizzying pace, and not surviving was not an option. Thriving, on the other hand, took precise planning.

Quick Summary

Transitioning from a bustling career to retirement requires foresight and purpose. This personal narrative highlights the importance of cultivating habits early, from fitness routines to creative pursuits to ensuring a fulfilling retirement. It underscores the challenges and rewards of shifting focus from professional achievements to personal satisfaction and lifelong learning, offering insights on planning and embracing new interests for a rewarding post-career life.

As I moved up the corporate ladder and as my kids flew the coop, the inevitable loomed large: retirement. At age 58, I gave myself a ramp of two years to exit from the company I had founded and nurtured. With the help of highly-effective strategic thinkers on my board, we successfully navigated the company to an acquisition by a global brand. While the professional preparation had a finite duration, the planning at the personal level took decades.

Whether I was working inside or outside the house, the good habits I cultivated early are fuelling me in retirement. The garden-variety bad habits – my constant and lovable companions – are adding spice to life.

Let’s work back in time.

After a lifetime of being unable to sit still and being a mediocre cook, I’m learning to savour time in the sun and elevating the deliciousness in the kitchen. I learned the basics of knitting and crocheting from my mom when I was a kid. Recently, I have pushed myself to do intricate designs. I have no doubt my mother is looking down from heaven thinking someone else has usurped my body.

The best part of my day is spent completing a number of word puzzles with my dogged, code-cracking hubby and my brilliant, fast-fingered niece in the UK. It takes the three of us to beat my hyper-competitive younger kid. This skill took years to hone. Add to that the time to stay abreast of the latest trends in the world of computing – including how artificial intelligence is changing our relationship with technology – and now I have the ingredients to craft fulfilling days.

A decade prior to retirement, my husband and I worked our way to walking 4-6 miles a day. We quickly reached a point where nothing could interfere with clocking 10,000 steps before going to bed, not even hours of traveling, rain, snow, being in a hotel room, or day-long meetings. Now, we are regular fixtures on trails and in the gym, which is a precursor for healthy living.

Outdoor, creative, and research habits have been my companions for as long as I can remember, but kicking it up a notch in the last two decades has made the transition to retirement infinitely easier.

Habits I developed even earlier are equally valuable.

My first language was an eclectic mix of Bengali and Bhojpuri thanks to my family and the lady who took care of toddler me. English didn’t come naturally, and I was constantly tongue-tied. In my teen years, much of what I admired required fluency in English: Staying Alive, Bee Gees, ABBA, and understanding my very British aunt who confounded me with words like “barangril.” It took years to parse that into three words: bar and grill.

In Class VIII, I set my mind to conquering the language to a degree that would make me fluent enough to carry on a conversation and to understand the written word. That determination was the seed for my love of writing. And now, writing takes a good chunk of my time every day. Had I not started in my teens, I’d be staring into a vacuum now.

I took music lessons in school – Rabindra Sangeet, Indian classical, and piano – because music is a non-negotiable requirement in Bengali families. In college, it was impossible to keep up with music while tackling the rigor of a computer science program, and somewhere along the way, I completely dropped the ball on music. Now, I am slowly re-learning to read music, thanks to the foundation created by my parents and brother.

On a light note, the focus on self-improvement has allowed me to fulfill a long-standing desire of sounding cool to a barista by graduating from a harried “Small coffee, please” to an energetic “Medium decaf salted caramel latte with oat milk and a touch of sugar, please.” Naturally, quick runs to the barista for a few extra calories here and there provide the right amount of excitement these days.

The habits I developed long ago are fueling the oars I use to direct my dinghy to shore.

First, while we invest time in our profession, be the CEO of our home, or deal with the multi-tasking challenges of life, we cannot forget to carve out time to nurture the habits we will need later. Let’s pick up that paintbrush and make amazing art, travel the world at a dizzying pace in our free time, laugh with meme-making creative genius, take care of our health in a disciplined way, remember special days with handwritten notes, go the extra mile with friends and family, and become a bird photographer like our nephew, whose stunning work leaves me with my jaw at my knees.

Second, prepare to shift from a constant focus on others to weaving in the things you’ve always wanted to do, from finding excitement in growing a business or doing well for your employer and colleagues to amassing memories from everyday joys.

Third, turn off your devices when you can to fill your days with moments that matter, moments that make you want to do the best for yourself, moments that make up for the decadence of unhindered time.

The content and images belong to Rumy Sen. Reproduction is prohibited. Used on this website by permission from the author.