You Are Not Reinventing Yourself. You Are Reinventing Retirement.

By Erica and Karen

You had a wonderful and fulfilling career. You retired at the top. You earned the right to rest on your laurels, and skate through the next few decades, sipping on cocktails in glamorous venues, dressed to the nines, holding forth about yourself.

But—you are a wise woman so that’s not really what you want to do. Fine for a few months but then what?

You will figure out a new way to have purpose and engagement—without simply referring to past accomplishments. You will use your decades of skills and experience as the basis for new undertakings. You will buy a bookstore or a bakery or an investment bank. You will teach math or make artsy movies or build country houses. You will design clothes for the rest of us. You’ll have fun and enjoy life.

Is this reinvention of you?

No. This is the ongoing invention of you. It started when you were born, of course, but really began in earnest when you started to decide who you wanted to be.

Your work was a key part of that process. If you entered the workforce when we did, you were lucky enough to be able to write on a clean slate. No-one knew quite what to make of us, so we could invent our own vision of a career woman—and the millions of women joining the workforce were doing just that. These women pioneered new ways of doing business. We approached problems with distinct perspectives. We thought about networking and relationships differently. We developed a vision of ourselves—as women—that required new career clothes, not feminized versions of men’s suits and ties.

The evolution continued as we all grew up and became experienced and effective players on a stage that was global and diverse. We figured out how to work while we raised children and made cookies and ran households. We helped each other move forward. We were often tired, but it was all worth it. We loved the world we helped build.

Now we are moving forward in a different way—without our careers. Once again, we are working on a clean slate. We are the first large generation of women who worked until they retired, and we are the first generation to benefit fully from health advances that allow us to be healthier for decades—the first generation that will have a long post-career runway while we are both mature and sentient.

If you are lucky enough to be one of us—the millions of career women who are retiring—you get to reinvent retirement and the image of retirees. You will build on what you have learned and what you have achieved. All of your experience will be deployed as you determine what comes next. Of course, you will still learn new things and exercise new muscles.

But you are not starting at the beginning. You have a formidable foundation. And you are doing what you have always done—making yourself more yourself. That’s how you will reinvent post-career life.

Isn’t it exciting to have this opportunity? What will you do?