In 2018, Kitty Janas retired after 32 years working as a teacher and school administrator — but she didn’t view her next chapter as a vacation.
Instead of helping students, Janas took care of her aging parents and spent more time with her grandchildren. Meanwhile, she continued using her leadership skills by helping out at Kids Impact Community, a Milwaukee-based organization that creates community service opportunities for families. Now that she’s not on a school year schedule, she and her husband finally get to travel whenever they want, and they’ve been to seven European countries so far.
“I do miss the kids and I loved my job when I was doing it, yet I don’t feel like something’s missing,” said Janas, 63.
It’s not always so easy. For many people, careers offer a sense of identity and purpose that may make the very idea of retirement unappealing. “People find themselves in a place where they don’t want to retire because they don’t want to lose all the things their career is giving them — money, prestige, attention, appreciation and relationships,” said Karen Carr, a certified retirement coach and life coach based in Minneapolis.
Yet experts say those who find ways to infuse their retirement with meaning can make the most of this new phase of life.
Why retirement can be a challenge
According to a 2022 review of research involving mental health during and after the transition out of the workforce, retirement is associated with numerous risk factors that can contribute to the development of depression in later life — and for some, this loss of meaning can contribute to negative health outcomes, including an increase in all-cause mortality. These challenges may be even more acute when you add the possibility of social isolation, which affects nearly a quarter of adults 65 and older.
Studies highlight factors that contribute to these difficulties — and what can improve the odds of well-being after leaving the workforce. For example, longitudinal research by Mo Wang, a professor at the University of Florida who studies retirement management, found that about 20 percent of retirees take longer than a year to adjust to this new phase of life. “A lot of times, they will never bounce back to the preretirement level of overall well-being,” Wang said. Those who found satisfaction in retirement sooner, Wang said, shared certain traits: maintaining a similar activity level after retirement and participating in activities they saw as meaningful substitutes for their preretirement work.
How to find purpose in retirement
No matter how you spin it, leaving the workforce is a major change. But there’s a lot you can do before and during retirement to ease the transition.
Plan early, if you can
What you’re able to do during retirement — and how much you enjoy it — in part depends on factors such as financial resources and your overall health, said Eve Markowitz Preston, a New York-based clinical psychologist who specializes in work with older adults. If you haven’t retired yet, prioritize habits that will give you more options when you finish working.
It’s also never too early to start thinking about how you want your retirement to look. Preston recommends talking to other retired people to learn from their experiences, and asking, “How is retirement going, and what would you have done differently?”
You can also “soft launch” retirement by taking more frequent breaks from work, shifting to part-time work or, if possible, having a longer sabbatical to explore what you’re interested in doing with your free time. “Planning a break from work before you retire can enlarge your perspective and help you plan out what you’d do if you had time,” Carr said.
Incorporate your values
Creating a strong sense of identity outside of work requires intentionally incorporating your values into daily life. Carr recommends taking time to think about and write down a list of several core values. If you land on family, nature, spirituality, community service and creativity, for example, you can prioritize these realms in your daily routines.
It can also help to think about what you enjoyed most about your career, or what drew you to it in the first place. “The key thing is to identify satisfying aspects of your work life and find ways to continue them after retirement,” Preston said. “Many people don’t realize what they got from work besides money.”
For example, if you derived value from helping others in your job, you could find a volunteer opportunity that allows you to give back. If your work was particularly intellectually stimulating, you might use your free time to take a class online or at a community center.
You can also explore passions or interests you never had time to pursue — maybe, like Janas, you’ve always wanted to travel more but work stood in the way. Or perhaps you’ve had a knack for art since childhood but never got around to honing your painting skills.
Keep your schedule structured
Free time is an appealing part of retirement, but too much of it can be detrimental, keeping you from engaging with activities that make your life feel meaningful. “Make sure you know what you’ll do every day,” Wang said. “You should have a good time schedule rather than going about things spontaneously.”
A predictable schedule can also support your mental health in retirement: Studies show that people with daily routines have lower levels of depression and anxiety compared with those who don’t.
If you’re planning retirement or already retired but want a better routine, Carr recommends creating a two-week ideal schedule, down to the half hour. Along with re-creating the structure you lost when you left work, thinking through what you want to be doing with your time can help you use it effectively and meaningfully.
Learn new things
Along with doing activities you already enjoy, retirement is a great time to pick up a new hobby. Learning something new can enrich your postretirement life, Wang said, and give you a sense of identity you’ll be proud of.
Plus, doing something new is a form of cognitive exercise that can benefit your mind as you age — studies suggest later-life learning may protect your memory and stave off cognitive decline.
Not sure where to start? If you don’t consider yourself tech literate, Preston suggests taking time to build your confidence — the internet can come with many learning opportunities, from video tutorials to online courses. “We can access the whole world through computers, so it’s critical to stimulation as we get older and don’t have the physical capacity to do what we used to do,” she said.
Reframe your thinking
Any big change can be an adjustment, and it’s normal to struggle through it at first. In difficult moments, remember that how you think about your retirement can play an important role in how you experience it. Every life phase you’ve experienced thus far has had its own drawbacks and benefits. Preston encourages trying to remember the positive aspects of this one.
“I would look at retirement through a glass-half-full lens,” she said. “I’m not just leaving something, I’m going toward something, and it’s an adventure. It’s going to be the time of my life.”
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