What Does Retirement Mean?

That was what a former student of mine asked me the other day. Actually, she listed a number of definitions from the dictionary, and in her usual brash style, asked what it was that I didn’t understand about the definitions.

I have to admit that I have failed again in my second attempt at retirement. The first time that I retired – 10 years ago – it was just too early and my plan for a business here in Bali didn’t work out; I learned the valuable lesson that I’m not a businessman, better to stick with teaching since I’m fairly good at that. And this time?

Well, I actually planned for this one, and except for the little matter of the world financial crisis, I was ready. I could stay retired and hope for the best, but I hate the idea of leaving the kids and my wife with no money if I happen to die in the next few years. So I was toying with the idea of going back to work. It just happened that I received a call, right at that time, asking if I was interested in coming back to my old job for seven months until a replacement for me arrived. It was one of those serendipitous things – returning to work is good for the school and good for me as well. It gives them a known quantity, and it gives me a quick infusion of hard cash to make up for some of the losses in the stock market.

This retirement has been excellent, although I actually work almost more than I did when I was working. That is I write about six hours a day. I managed to finish the eBook on Bali, am halfway done with the international schools book, and have a start on the book on Islam that I want to do after the international schools book is finished. I’ve spent a lot of time snorkeling; I’ve gotten the kids on track with their new schools; my wife and I have made extensive repairs to the houses here (badly needed after five years of being empty); I went through the visa process so that I know I can do it again in another seven months; and I’ve had a lot of time to read and reflect.

I know now that I can handle retirement – often problematic for workaholics like me. In fact, I’ve only begun to do the things that I wanted to do when I was planning my retirement. I still have a lot lined up for the next time.

So, here I am working on getting ready mentally for a move back to Sumbawa for seven months. I’m not fond of the idea of leaving the family; I’m really going to miss being here with the kids and my wife everyday without the distraction of work, but I can rationalize this decision to temporarily return to work, by looking at it as just 25 weeks of work that will give us a little breathing room economically. Then back here in June again to start retirement all over.