Retirement: A Do-Over on Life

July 7, 2015 — We never tire of promoting the idea that retirement is a chance of a do-over on life. Not that you get to reset back to square one, but you can at least start over from this point. To that end we thought you might enjoy a group of fascinating articles about following your dream. One is a post about Lucy Burdette, the cozy mystery writing wife of your editor, while 3 others are from Nextavenue.com.

Lucy’s 14th mystery, “Fatal Reservations“, comes out this week from Penguin Putnam. Although she has been at this a long time now, being a novelist is definitely a second career. When we met and for the first part of our life together she was a clinical psychologist with a practice in New Haven. That didn’t seem enough, so a while back she launched into a new life as author. This article on the Jungle Red Writers blog details many of the ways that decision to change directions had a huge impact on her life. And there is a podcast on the same topic you can listen to over at Relaunch for those interested in finding out more about starting a writing career.

Your editor can confirm how much her new career has opened up new worlds to her (and him). Lucy’s second career has introduced her to thousands of interesting new people – fans, fellow writers, and publishing types. There have been new experiences of every type, from playing in a pro-am golf tournament (background for her first series, he was the caddy), to interviewing police detectives (2nd series) to becoming fast friends with Lorenzo, a tarot card reader in Key West’s Mallory Square (3rd series). And your editor’s second post retirement career at Topretirements has opened up fascinating new worlds as well. Not the least of which are all learning from the nice and lively folks who comment and contribute to this site!

More about following your dream
Nextavenue is a great website with lots of good articles about retirement. Recently they published a trio that explained how to follow your dream once you retire. We think you will enjoy them all.
Why Delay Your Dream Job
Leaving Your Comfort Zone in Retirement
Achieving Your Dreams After 60

Bottom Line
If you have a hankering to do something new in retirement, give it a whirl. As we have experienced firsthand, you never know where it will lead you. Your idea could be big, or it could be small – our advice is just don’t ignore it. Use the articles above to get inspired.