Before retiring I spent most of my professional life in some sort of leadersip position. This has given me a lot of experience and insights into leadership. The funny thing is now, I seem to not be able to lead myself out of a wet paper bag.
I find it a little perplexing how this happened. It didn't happen over night either. I transitioned from mostly structured work environments where I guided and coached others to a more self directed phase of my life.
You would think that it would be a synch to just lead yourself versus a group of people, but for me it has been quite challenging. I think it is more about finding purpose and motivation for myself.
Finding new purpose and motivation after retiring from two careers has been a big adjustment for me. It’s a shift from roles where I had clear goals and responsibilities to one where I have to create my own path.
It has helped a great deal to reconnect with old hobbies like my coin collecting hobby and I am really starting to enjoy involvement with my veteran organizations.
I am even starting up a new exercise plan. I am looking at a mixture of walking and using a seated cycling trainer when my syncope is acting up. Combining walking with a seated cycling trainer can help me stay active while managing my syncope. It allows for flexibility depending on how I feel each day.
Leading yourself can be different than leading others. When I was leading others at work there was a mission, clear objectives and goals established. Everyone had established responsibilites and there was accoutnability. Most of all there was structure.
After retirement, the structure and accountability disappear and it has been a challenge to estbalish a new sense of direction I guess. I think one of the reasons this might be happneing is the change in my identity.
A significant part of my identity was tied to my careers and leadership roles. As I have stated, retirement feels like a loss of purpose. I mean it does make sense, I spent a large part of my life in a leadership role, so it became a core part of who I am.
Transitioning away from the leadership roles have left a gap, but I don't know if it is natural or not to feel the way I feel right now or behave the way I am.
What I do know is that rediscovering or redefining my purpose is going to be a journey. Reflecting on what aspects of leadership brought me the most satisfaction, which was watching people grow and succeed, and incorporating those elements into my daily life now seems to be the answer.
I know I am on the right track with volutneering with my veterans organization, so hoepfully I will continue to find purpose through that.
Until next time...
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Notes:
-All content is mine unless otherwise annotated.
-Images are my own unless otherwise noted.
-Photos edited using MS Paint.
-Page Dividers from The Terminal Discord.
