By Karen and Erica

Is New Year’s Day the first day of your post-career life? Does that worry you? Maybe even scare you? Well, you have good reason to be uneasy. You are about to embark on a strange journey. But it ends well.
Here are ten true facts about what’s next.

1. You will suddenly be in uncharted territory. No structure. No ready-made community. No obligations. No place to go. A world that looks familiar but isn't.

2. You will encounter people who treat you as if you are from another, very boring, planet. And who act as if you probably don’t speak human, and probably aren’t too bright. Those people labor under the false assumption that retired people are old and gray and out of shape, mentally and physically.

3. You will wonder how your identity spontaneously combusted. See Point 2. Outdated images.

4. Maybe you will want to get back to your old job, the warm, familiar home where you knew your place, and everyone else’s. Note: This impulse is to be resisted.

5. Once you know there’s no going back, you will be anxious because you can’t see through the fog ahead.

6. But then, slowly, something will start to happen. The clouds will begin to dissipate and the sun will start to shine.

7. You will find that you are building a new community, an exciting coterie of people you might never have met in your old life.

8. You will figure out that there are quite a few things you really want to do, and you will be excited that you now have time to do them. You will be glad you did not go back to your old job.

9. You will create a new identity. One built on the one you had before, but more fluid. More confident. Maybe more open.

10. You will wake up one day just thrilled to have retired from your first career.

Welcome to the next phase of your life.