Episode SummaryAre you retiring toward something, or away from something? In this episode, we unpack why "I'm ready to retire" is really two separate questions hiding inside one — and why most retirement planning only ever asks one of them.Question one: your relationship to time. Are you future-oriented, present-oriented, or past-oriented? Future-oriented women plan and save well, but the same forward-leaning wiring that built a career can make it nearly impossible to ever say "I've arrived." Present-oriented women may embrace retirement's freedom more easily, but risk being financially underprepared. Past-oriented women often feel the future is out of their hands — and tend to arrive at this transition the least prepared and the most anxious.Question two: your core motivation. Are you being pulled toward retirement (relationships, creative work, freedom you've designed) or pushed out (burnout, being sidelined, ageism)? The research is clear: people who feel pulled report meaningfully higher long-term satisfaction, while people who feel pushed often experience retirement as something that happened to them rather than something they authored.Most retirements are a mix of both — and the goal isn't to eliminate the "push" side (including anger, which is simply information, not something to feel guilty about) but to name it honestly before walking into the next chapter.Reflect On ThisFinish the sentence, just for yourself:"I am partly running from ____, and partly running toward ____."Coming Up NextNext episode goes one layer deeper — into the cultures that shaped you, and why the voice in your head defining a "dignified exit" might not actually be yours.ReferencesCarstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54(3), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.165Dingemans, E., & Henkens, K. (2014). Involuntary retirement, bridge employment, and satisfaction with life: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(4), 575–591. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1914Kim, J. E., & Moen, P. (2002). Retirement transitions, gender, and psychological wellbeing: A life-course, ecological model. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 57B(3), P212–P222. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/57.3.P212Topa, G., Moriano, J. A., Depolo, M., Alcover, C. M., & Morales, J. F. (2018). Personality and perceived retirement adjustment: A multilevel meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 104, 293–316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.11.009Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-differences metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1271–1288. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1271
