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I still have my RN license. Will have to decide soon if I should let it go.
Not a RN, but I have kept my professional license up to date/inactive status. I wanted to reach a certain milestone. It was a lot of hard work to acquire, but I won’t be renewing next time. It isn’t “me” anymore.
Round two and three on this. First, I met my old marine biology prof at Wally World once, a few years back, he was pushing the cart for his wife. We talked, he asked me what I was doing, told him of the ranch. He looked more weary than what I remember him of the century before. On the other hand, I run into my old computer science prof from time to time. He is heavy into his pet science, scholarship and building named after him.
NOW, it may be that it is only because of those that the current generation know him (and perhaps that is just as well because to us before, he was quite the classic prof around the coeds). I can't say for either of them, in regards to this subject, for I am the one looking in from the outside, but, if it works for them, whatever it is.
Secondly, whatever it is, when they recognize you in town, let it be a good thing, on good memories (and not some scandal one decided to do because it is all over now). Further, it helps, in the line of thought here, if it is something away from work, such as the volunteer work one does. "She taught me scuba", "She fosters cats", things like that. Even if it is just those in the check out line when you are picking up oodles and oodles of pet food, to donated to the animal shelter, and the little girl up ahead is asking "does she have a lot of cats?".
And on that note, being a misplaced angel, how I think, how I act, how I live is an identity that is very important to me, that I never want to lose by being something else, and I think it is something a lot of people see.......in whatever interpretation.
Dont get me wrong, i have plenty to keep me busy. Im not one to relax but i meant more or less that some people have all these big plans for retirement and i have nothing.
What sort of "big plans" do you mean? It seems a little strange for you to think that you have nothing to look forward to in retirement, based on someone else's "". Retirement is whatever you want to make it. If you are not someone that does well without a structured day, then maybe you will be better off continuing to work. I know some people are like that, but man, I love having all day long to do exactly as I please.
"Researchers have found that people who crafted identity stories were “better able to make peace with their transitions and leave behind their old identities, expressing more positive sentiment about their current situations than those who did not craft such stories.”
After all, we invented the story that got us through the front part of our lives and into a career. And, then needing to reinvent oneself into a new story plot makes total sense and I think it is a good way to look at it.
I mentioned it before. I saw my Oncologist in December of 2019 before the pandemic. Then, I did not see him until September of 2022 (right before he retired). He looked as if he aged 15 years. I do not think the pandemic was easy on doctors. However, someone (my PCP) later commented to me that he also went through a marital breakup at the same time. Whatever it was really aged the guy massively. It was pretty shocking.
I once asked my Orthopedic surgeon who dealt with my tibial plateau fracture how he was. He said "no one ever asks me that." I go from great joy to sheer terror. His example of the terror was when a patient became infected. He was a football player prior to being a doctor and he said he never really got over that (he liked the football thing better).
I always try to be respectful, friendly and grateful with the medical community.
Last edited by Wile E. Coyote; 09-07-2023 at 02:29 AM..
I can relate to what US Grant went through, albeit on a much lower scale. Like him, I was career military.
Spent 24 years in uniform. When I finally retired, I remember sitting on terminal leave unsure of the way forward.
If you’ve never served, and only worked at normal jobs prior to your retirement, you can’t possibly fathom what US Grant went through.
Being in the military is so much more than a job, it’s a profession, and it’s very easy to lose your sense of self after leaving a full career in the military.
So what I did was decide that I wanted to learn new skills, first and foremost. Salary was an after thought. This worked for awhile, and I enjoyed it. But it never replaced the military, never replaced the feeling I had when I was in the Profession of Arms.
Luckily, I was offered a job as a defense contractor and I was able to regain my place within my profession.
If you are like me, and your sense of worth is tied into your profession, embrace it and work as long as you possibly can. That’s the best way forward.
I feel incredibly blessed to wake up every morning and get to work in my profession, even though I could easily stop working now and have enough money to last me until the good lord calls me home.
But to answer the question of how to overcome identity loss in retirement? I haven’t a clue.
What sort of "big plans" do you mean? It seems a little strange for you to think that you have nothing to look forward to in retirement, based on someone else's "". Retirement is whatever you want to make it. If you are not someone that does well without a structured day, then maybe you will be better off continuing to work. I know some people are like that, but man, I love having all day long to do exactly as I please.
Some people want to travel, others may want to take up a new hobbie, some may want to hike the tallest mountain in every state, etc. Ive already done everything i want to do and id rather just putt around the house doing projects. Having all day to myself though is a recipe for disaster as nothing would get accomplished, lol. I have a case of grumpiness where the older i get, the worse it becomes. Whatever i can do to continue feeling young would benefit me and others around me, lol.
"Researchers have found that people who crafted identity stories were “better able to make peace with their transitions and leave behind their old identities, expressing more positive sentiment about their current situations than those who did not craft such stories.”
After all, we invented the story that got us through the front part of our lives and into a career. And, then needing to reinvent oneself into a new story plot makes total sense and I think it is a good way to look at it.
Well, I was already me before I had a career, so there was no need to invent someone else really :-).
I think this holds true for me and the reason why I have plans to work until the very end. I dont want to get old and in my opinion, retirement signifies that... kind of like the final chapter in life. I am not ready to be in that mindset and feel continuing to work will keep me young. I have nothing that I would want to do in retirement anyway so might as well keep working, lol.
You're going to get old regardless of any desire not to.
Retirement does not signify getting old if you choose a profession that lets you retire young. Think of it as Side B of a record, as opposed to the final chapter of a book.
One would hope that you have things that you enjoy doing on days off/weekends during your working years. Retirement is just an extension of that. It's a verrrry long weekend. Don't think about how others spend their time in retirement (travel, pickle ball, etc) if you don't enjoy those particular things. Focus on all the time you'll have to expand on the things you enjoy doing now.
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Retirement is whatever you want to make it. If you are not someone that does well without a structured day, then maybe you will be better off continuing to work. I know some people are like that, but man, I love having all day long to do exactly as I please. 
