To give meaning to his hasty retirement, Roger Plourde gave himself the mission of facilitating that of others.
At the end of a career as a teacher and school principal, he took early retirement to support his parents in failing health.
It was only after his departure that he took retirement preparation training at the Business Services Center of Cégep Marie-Victorin. The questions he asked were so insightful that he was later asked to join the team himself. He has been a trainer for the psychosocial component since fall 2019.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CÉGEP MARIE-VICTORIN BUSINESS SERVICE CENTER
Since 2019, Roger Plourde has been giving retirement preparation training at the Business Services Center of Cégep Marie-Victorin.
As attractive and desirable as it may appear, retirement poses several challenges, he notes.
“The first is an adaptation challenge. The second challenge is to maintain our balance. The third is an interest challenge.
— I have many interests, he is often told.
“That’s not the issue,” he retorts. Will I have interests that will give meaning to my life? »
There is still a challenge of motivation, “to stay the course”, then a challenge of affirmation: the ability to maintain one’s serenity through the inevitable pitfalls and difficulties.
“Our last challenge will be one of solidarity and commitment,” he concludes.
Assuming social responsibilities, making a difference: all this will ensure that instead of enduring life, we will still dare to take risks. It won’t involve a return to work for everyone, but it will involve something that gives meaning.
Roger Plourde, retirement preparation trainer
In reference to the Serpuarians of the Association for the Recycling of Electronic Products, he underlines the importance of quickly becoming a “seràkekchose” again.
In short, retirement is a transition, and there is no reason to make it draconian. We can also see it as a transfer of knowledge or a transposition of one’s commitment.
“If we slow down, but keep the gratification that comes with the work, we will perhaps leave more serene, rather than burned and bitter, like some people, unfortunately,” notes the trainer.
Time is put into perspective
“Slowing down is in relation to time, and time is extremely elastic,” notes Guilhème Pérodeau, doctor in social psychology and retired professor from the University of Quebec in Outaouais (UQO).
She speaks from experience. She retired at age 68 in 2019, the same year she published her book Mindfulness – Guide to a Happy Retirement.
Did she put her own advice into practice?
“It’s going very well,” she replies, before specifying that the pandemic has slowed down, at least temporarily, several of her retirement plans.
“And I realized the subjective side of the passage of time and the speed of life. »
Work structures our days, gives rhythm to our lives. As soon as retirement time comes, the relationship with time becomes relativized – something Einstein understood a century ago. The agenda disappears, the schedule becomes fluid.
The authors and research demonstrate very clearly that if we no longer have structure, we will become disorganized. If we become disorganized, we will devalue ourselves. If we devalue ourselves, it is our self-esteem that will be affected, and ultimately, it leads us to lose the meaning of life.
Roger Plourde, retirement preparation trainer
The first year generally goes well. We enjoy our new free time, we fill it at leisure.
“But it is in the long term that the whole loss of meaning becomes an issue,” he continues.
Be careful of acceleration
We planned to slow down, but retirement can be daunting if you don’t watch out for untimely acceleration.
There are some who had very demanding careers and who, once retired, find themselves under pressure through volunteering and their activities. They say to themselves: “I’m tired, I’m stressed, and yet I’m retired.” We see that. You could say that slowing down is an art.
Guilhème Pérodeau, doctor in social psychology and retired professor from UQO
An art that is slowly tamed.
“You have to give yourself a break and not be afraid of this kind of void, which will fill up right away,” she advises. We have to take the time, not immediately launch into all kinds of activities. You have to learn to slow down. »
A route
“How can we smooth the transition? We suggest that people create a retirement action plan with a timetable and an annual review,” explains Roger Plourde.
Because retirement is a new life project that can be spread over a period almost as long as your career.
“We are starting to dream of this project,” he said. We don’t set limits, initially. »
Once we have allowed ourselves to imagine the ideal, we measure the means to achieve it, according to our finances, our health, our living conditions, our personality.
Then, we will make conscious choices. Making conscious choices is not giving up, it is choosing. There are fewer and fewer surprises, and as the years go by, you tend to slow it down rather than brake it hard. We will not hit the wall, we will rather have a conscious and lucid look at what awaits us.
Roger Plourde, retirement preparation trainer
From then on, the transition is harmonious and the landing is smooth.
“If we start this three, four or five years from retirement, research shows that in our brain, unconsciously, we will slowly ease up because we will begin to nurture this project,” he says. to be worth. And by nourishing it, we will graft new elements into it. »
It is by looking into the distance that we can slow down in due time.