Retired life is an open highway; let’s cruise on it

By Sunil Saxena

The idea of leading a retired life rankled initially. I hated being reduced to the ranks of “their time is over” workforce. One day I was a productive member of the society. My colleagues and my team looked up to me to take decisions. Next day, I was living on pension.

It was almost like a fall into oblivion. My phone that would not stop ringing while I worked as a sales head went into the silent mode. My email box which was full of unanswered mails now waited for a mail to land. The only folder that was full was the spam folder.

So, this is it. I thought.

But I could not have been more wrong.

Life did not stop. Instead, it took a new turn when it dawned on me that for the first time, I was my own man. I was no longer a slave. Retirement had set me free from so many man-made bondages.

The biggest freedom was not reporting to work every morning. There were no more targets to worry about, and no reports to submit.

Retired life brought in its own joys, and unleashed its own fun. I was human now, and not a headless chaser of unending goals, targets, meetings, reviews and deadlines.

I am now into the fifth year of my retired life, and each year becomes better than the last. To those who think retirement is the end of life, here is my take: it is the pot of gold at the end of a mirage called life. Grab it and live life to the full.

Here are nine things only a retired life can give:

The first is you can get up whenever you want to. You don’t have to be woken you by the harsh ringing of a rude alarm clock. You can get up when you want, do what you want. There is no rush.

The second is you can go to sleep whenever you want. You can binge watch movies through the night and into the wee hours of the morning. Who cares? There is enough time in the morning to sleep.

The third is you can wear what you want. You don’t have to put up a suit and a tie because you are in sales. You can replace them with what you always wanted to wear – T-shirts, shorts or jeans. My body no longer has to be trussed and buttoned up all the time. What a relief.

The fourth is freedom from rush hour traffic. That was madness at best. My office was 18 km away. But my road time – close to two hours every morning and every evening. Often it was the drive that drained me than my long hours at work. Now, I can go out during the day when there is little traffic on the roads. There is no one to stop my, and driving suddenly feels such a pleasure.

The fifth is being master of your time. You can sit and watch the rain fall; you can take a trip to the mall at a time of your choice, you can snuggle into the bed and spend the day reading your favourite author or simply spend hours doing nothing. There are no tensions, no pressure. Your day belongs to you.

The sixth is you can finally do what you have always wanted. In my case, I always wanted to write. But never had the time or let’s say the right time. Now, I find my morning and late afternoon writing sessions most productive.  The writer’s block vanishes when the mind is fresh after a good night’s rest or a pleasant afternoon siesta. This was a luxury earlier.

Seventh, and most important, you have more time to spend with your spouse. Post retirement, I have suddenly discovered my wife again. I find I have more time to sit and chat with her and plan our days. The retired life has brought us closer. Now we want to make full use of our remaining time, time that was lost in the work storm.

I am now more relaxed, more in command of my life.

As I had read somewhere “Retirement is not the end of the road. It is the beginning of the open highway.”

Cruise on it.

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