Retirement for Racing Rats

 

 

Retirement for Racing Rats
Fr. Tony’s Mid-week Message
September 23, 2015

Sports writer Tom Boswell said the following about a powerhouse of the NFL, “John Riggins discovered retirement is often a special hell for overachievers. As they’re suffering for success, it seems like an oasis in a desert of demands and sacrifices. But, for many, when they get there, the cool refreshing water is an illusion. They long for the rat race. And especially the company of their fellow rodents.”

We have a lot of retired people in our parish.  Some are happy in retirement; others no so much.  The difference may seem to lie in one’s ability to find appropriately paced and challenging things to fill the days.  Service projects, volunteering, OLLI classes, Tudor Guild, exercise and hiking, part-time employment—all seem to work in this regard.  But frenzied activity in retirement can itself lead to burnout and exhaustion.

The real difference between happiness and stress in retirement, I think, lies in one’s ability to experience thankfulness and gratitude, and learn to change the habits of the heart we developed when we are pursuing the rat race.   Multi-tasking may have been helpful then, but now it largely contributes to distraction and destroys intentionality and being in the moment.  Concern about money, income, and status might have defined boundaries and provided motivation in the race, but now keeps us from human connections and a relatively worry-free life.  Letting family and friends take second place to “work” may have helped advance us in the rat race; it only leads to loneliness in retirement.  

 In all of this, we need to learn to go easy on ourselves, cut ourselves and others some slack, and slow down.  I think all of us would be happier if we did so.  

Grace and Peace,  Fr. Tony+