Yup, these symptoms continue to surface occasionally in me too, contrary to how others may see me, there are indeed moments when one, somewhat unhealthily, in my now considered opinion, has tended to muse and reflect too long on days gone- by – not a viable option when one is hell-bent in maintaining hedonistic antiquity – and for as long as humanly possible…as I indeed am.
So, what did I glean from these preliminary investigations – what specifically is this difficult-to-detect phenomenon that so blights our focus to embrace retirement contentedly?
From my calculations, coupled with that of my own recent real-life experiences, I have established that much of what causes our respective dismay – or dare I say, disorientation, does not solely rest with retirement, per say – this somewhat convenient conclusion is just too singular, and generally speaking, just too simplistic by far.
In my humble opinion, many of today’s newly-retired sexagenarian’s, (myself included) – AKA – ‘The Baby-Boomer-Brigade, have wrongfully contemplated for far too long, that should they persevere to keep pace with the universal revolutionary changes within society – and go about their daily routine in the frivolous belief that they shall remain as relevant now, as they were ‘then’, life would stay pretty much rosy…wrong!!!
We have each failed to grasp the inevitably of mature alterations to both our physical and mental framework – there must come a time when one finally runs-out-of-puff after all – both psychologically and physically – and therein lies the quandary for everyone associated with our genre.
As many pass under and through the portcullis of their [perceived] passive retirement purgatory, they are in-effect, bidding adieu, not only to the workplace – but to their former alliance to a world they no longer understand – one where it has become increasingly difficult to discern a sense of proportion, all because our intellectual temperature appears to be set these days, to something called ‘Twitter’ – and precious little else!
We retirees are, in many aspects – refugees from another epoch, as the chasm of time increases between our final working day – and that of where we currently sit – so does our grasp of the inexplicable modifications to communication, commerce and commercialism – even the way we shop – or how we once viewed a day at the shops – this is under attack too!
Whilst Christmas shopping in London several months ago – a seasonal chore that my wife and I had not undertaken together for many years – all thanks to the draconian demands of the workplace, however, during this retail travail, I finally came to recognise that retirement brings with it an overwhelming sense that we are all redundant in the fullest sense of the word – our values, ethics, sense of community and general standards, belong to a bygone era.
When we retirees first entered the workplace, the now pathetically antiquated High Streets used to provide for our every domestic need, we used to reach our retail Utopia by courtesy of those strange machines called buses, nowadays we’ve got it licked, one just has to jump into the car, clog up the motorway, sit in a traffic jam, and sooner or later you’re there, all ready to worship in the new cathedrals of the 21st Century, the reprehensible, anti-Christ, shopping centres.
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