One of the major reasons teachers retire early is the pace of the job. The very timetable of a school day itself can become a relentless rush to get everything done from first bell to final home time. Then, in the evening, there is often the additional work of planning for the next day’s lessons.
As we mentioned in a blog earlier this year:
“Highly experienced teachers are retiring early, citing their main reasons as:
• 83% – lack of work/life balance.
• 72% – high workload.
• 70% – stress.”
Rush hours
It’s not confined to just the teaching profession either. Almost any job can feel like a headlong dash 24/7. When you’re rushing to complete work tasks at work AND during important family time, that rush is stressful in itself.
How many of us in full-time work put in that extra mile or six on jobs, just because clients want them “done by Christmas”. (It’s a false milestone anyway, as just as the job is done, we all go off for the holidays!)
Why the hurry?
So, if you find yourself doing the same headlong rush in retirement, ask yourself why! Retirement is about having more time to do what you want, when you want to do it. Yes, structure in the week is important, but make it flexible too.
Apart from clients, we have various retired people who act as ‘sounding boards’ for our team. One retired gentleman archer we keep up with has discovered the joy of taking things slowly by doing up the guest en-suite bathroom himself to his own (very exacting) standards.
He is enjoying both the mental and physical challenges, but he’s also not rushing the job. He does each stage of the work carefully and with enthusiasm, takes a sense of satisfaction from what he has achieved, and then leaves it until next week (or whenever).
Why the deadline?
So far he is in week six of the upgrade – and still enjoying it. And that is the key – enjoyment. If he had set a deadline for himself, that deadline could easily have morphed into a major cause of stress. So he simply didn’t set one.
Last week, he decided to sit and read a book all day, rather than putting up cabinets. It’s not procrastination, it’s what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it. And it was a stress-free, enjoyable way to spend a cold, dank day.
What’s more, as our social team member pointed out, her mum is waiting for a new shower to be installed, and the waiting time for the builders is eight weeks. In that time frame, our retired archer will have completed his en-suite project – and saved himself money too!
Why the fight?
If you feel that you are fighting with any aspect of retirement, the British Heart Foundation (who know a thing or two about the effects of stress) have some sage advice:
“Make peace and move on. Don’t spend your retirement dwelling on your working days. Accept that you’ve done all you can in that job and focus on your next challenge. You’ve still got lots to achieve.”
We like that idea. Make peace and move on. Retirement planning can help you make peace by creating a personalised framework for the next 30+ years. So once in retirement you’ll know that wherever new adventures may take you, you have a range of support in place to enable that to happen alongside the everyday too.
Contact me to start planning and stop stressing!
And finally….
If you are still feeling stressed simply look at it from a different angle: desserts is stressed spelled backwards! Now if that isn’t a reason to enjoy some seasonal favourites such as stollen and Christmas pudding, I don’t know what is….
