This essay is my last installment (for now) on the process I’ve identified for transitioning into retirement.  The first two essays in this series described that process and explored the first three steps in detail.  Today, I’m going to take you through the last two steps and leave you with some final thoughts on this exciting time in your life.

When we last left our riveting story, I was struggling with what to do with my time once I had detoxed from thirty years of intense work and had enjoyed months of stress-free endless vacation time.  Alas, all good things must come to an end and I started to get “rutchey” (for those of you who don’t know Pennsylvania Dutch, it means I got “shpilkes”).  One of the first forays I made into “doing something that means something” was reaching out to a local woman’s college and offering myself to their Chemistry Department.  I wanted to mentor young women going into the sciences, giving them the benefit of my years of hard won wisdom.  At first, they were thrilled.  But since I brought the idea to them instead of being “recruited”, the responsibility to define the nature of engagement fell to me.  I gave a presentation to their upper classmen, who clearly did NOT get my humor and didn’t know what to do with me. The professors really only wanted me to get them free help to fix and maintain analytical instruments.  Over a fairly short period of time, I got tired of the hour drive up to the Valley and definitely tired of the effort required on my part to gain acceptance.  I felt like I was pushing myself on them and had already spent too many years pushing, pushing, pushing to advance in my career.  No, this wasn’t what I wanted.  Not now.  So, I stopped showing up and they didn’t seem to care.

Could I have made a real difference there?  Absolutely.  I could have spent a lot more time on campus and developed a detailed structure to guide my interactions with students, faculty and staff.  With time and persistence, I could have built a place for myself there that I know would have made a difference for them and for me.  And, in fact, they did ask if I’d consider being an adjunct professor and teach some lab sections.  (Trish and I were starting to travel more and I wasn’t about to make a commitment to a semester of teaching that would curtail that!)  But this wasn’t the Catharsis I was looking for.  I took on a few short consulting gigs that basically involved me pontificating on the phone and getting paid $250 an hour.  THAT I really enjoyed!  But, again, I was happy letting those opportunities come to me instead of searching them out and marketing my knowledge. 

Then I got a phone call from the President of an industry group that I’d been involved in for years.  I was even serving on their Board of Directors when I left Intertek.  The request was to come on board as a Project Manager of an initiative that I had championed when I was on the Board.  I was really excited about the topic!  I said No.  He called again.  I said No again.  Just as a rabbi makes you knock on the door a third time as a way of demonstrating commitment before you can convert to Judaism, I waited for that third call.  Trish encouraged me to go visit them and give it a hard look.  She could see the passion in my eyes and hear it in my voice.  She knew this was something I wanted to do.  I had reached Stage Four:  Catharsis.

I signed a one year contract and over that time was able to advance a passion around Innovation Leadership training into a reality.  Did everything go perfectly?  Emphatically no.  Did I achieve all I wanted to achieve in that time period?  No again.  But, boy, did I enjoy that year!  I reconnected with a number of people whom I really respected and enjoyed being with.  They validated that I still had solid ideas and perspectives which was quite healing.  (I was even presented with about a half dozen job opportunities, should I have wished to have gotten back into an industrial position.)  And, I put together a product that I felt fulfilled my vision on what this educational tool should do.  I even recruited my successor.  That year of contract work was exactly what I needed.  But the one year was enough.  I had entered a New Normal (Stage 5) but that didn’t mean it was permanent. 

There certainly are people who go through this cycle once and embrace a New Normal that will last the rest of their lives.  That is awesome but it is not my story.  I lost my energy around the topic of Innovation Leadership which had been a part of my life for so long. Once I handed over project leadership I went right back into Detox.  Did I consider this a failure?  No, not by a long shot.  I realized that this cycle of transition is going to continue for the rest of my life.  I know I’m still growing, learning and evolving.  For thirty years, that happened in the context of an industrial career.  I changed position and focus multiple times over that period.  Now I’m a freelancer and those changes will happen outside of the umbrella of a single context.

A lot of changes have already happened over the time since I left Intertek.  I moved.  I got married.  I integrated into my tight family of in-laws.  I began to travel.  I got onto a sharp growth curve, this one more personal than professional.  My desire to write began to build again.  I had written a piece about my old synagogue that was published a decade ago and the impact of that essay was brought home to me again last year. I went to the Bat Mitzvah of the young girl at the center of that story.  The Rabbi read my essay as his message to her and it brought back to me the joy I got from writing.  Then last fall was that horrendous mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.  It affected me more than I realized and an essay came pouring out.  I posted it on Facebook.  The response I got was unexpected and blew me away.  I could reach people with my words.  It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.  Now was the time to try it.

That was my most recent Catharsis and led to the creation of this blog.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the process thus far and am under no illusion that I will become a viral sensation.  (Although, Oprah, if you’d like to talk with me about my thoughts I’m easily reachable.)  I also know that this is not my last cycle through the Five Stages of Transitioning to Retirement.  At some point, the need to grow will push me again.  I have no idea what direction I might move toward and I’m excited to find out!  I know I am blessed to have the means to let this process lead me where it may.  And I am doubly blessed to have all of you join me on this journey!