An old Chinese proverb says that the secret to happiness is to have something to do, someone to love and something to hope for. There are three aspects that keep us alive, metaphorically speaking. There are a lot of people who seem exhausted even if they are young, people whom few things can move. Being useful, having something to do, keep up with the times, surrounding ourselves with people, being validated, hoping, contributing to the lives of those around us, to society, all these things keep our mind and soul young.
I think there is a category of people who cannot retire. These people do a job up to a certain age, they pay their taxes, they do their duty. Afterwards, after retirement, they do something else. Retirement is for them like age is for some women, just a number on an ID card; it does not matter, because in any case they look different, much younger than their age would suggest.
Those people need to be alive. Retirement for them is just a matter of conforming to society.
Of course, the age of retirement should have a decent limit, so that one can benefit from those years and that pension for a long time. And those who will not retire should have something to do. The social system is one thing and the internal system is another. Let’s think about Mihail Sora – he is a man who will not retire; he is active, in interaction with others, he is smart. The same with Manfred Kets de Vries, professor at the Insead Business School; he is over 70 years old and very active, he writes a lot, travels, gives conferences, lectures, does research.
There are many people who want to do something, something different, something dear to their heart. They want to start over differently. Courage and internal timelessness are important. Like a soldier ending his service, you do not lie down and wait to die, but get up and start your life all over, with different benchmarks, as if you gave yourself another chance. This keeps you alive.
I remember Robert Frost’s poem, ‘The road not taken’:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Having retired, I can consider that I have reached the same crossroads and so I can try the other road. I made a choice at some point; the choice implied giving something up. Now I can go back and take the other road.
If we retire too late, we will not have the strength for anything. Maybe it is too late for some people; or maybe they do not have a second road, a second alternative. They took a road, fell into a routine, identified with it. They did not keep in mind the alternative, the one thing that sparked their interest, the one thing that made them happy. That is why it is essential to be mentally active; to have aspirations.
As for me: I already do things dear to my heart. I have a company that is related to development and continuous education; I always learn; I am involved in other projects with social impact; I write; I travel; I am surrounded by people I like to be with; and I have other projects in mind, ideas that relate to my passions and what makes me happy. You know the saying: we should be healthy, for we have ideas to fill an entire world. Sometimes I think that we should have two long lives, in order to have time to do everything we have in mind.