Let’s Stop Calling It “Retirement.” Instead I Claim “Refreshment,” And It Can Be For Anyone, Anytime

Some folks’ reactions about me retiring have been .. fascinating. These particular congratulations have been a strange concoction colored with pity, superiority, and envy both real and pretend. Kind of the way someone saying “I love that for you” often has more than a little “bless your heart” subtext. It’s made me realize that there’s something fundamentally wrong with what the word “retirement” evokes.

The word “Retirement” comes from the Old French, meaning “to withdraw,” as in after a defeat or into seclusion. Sounds really grim.  But, using this definition, people actually do retire from toxic or misfit jobs in all phases of the working years.  

With that much negative energy, it’s clear that a new word with a different attitude is needed. And it should also be inclusive of the growing number of people who are making changes that are all about moving toward rather than withdrawing away from. Making a choice for big change isn’t limited to a certain age threshold; it can happen at any time. It may happen at the beginning of the working years as part of an intentional sampling period. It may happen at the height of careers, right when all that grit and grinding is paying off, when conventional wisdom would advise staying the course.

But back to finding a better word. I like “Refreshment” as a possibility. From the Old English, the word “fresh” derives from “not salt,” meaning “fit for drinking.” It means replenishment and hydration, both essential for freely flourishing new growth.

That’s much more the right energy. Where retiring invokes fading and declining, refreshment is a brightening and an ascent. In Refreshment, you can change shape, follow your curiosity to try small or radical new things, and live in expression of your core, catchphrase-free, values. You can grow not on a stepwise linear track but on explorations that have detours, loops, and that are guaranteed to open up onto completely unexpected vistas.

The awesome thing about Refreshment is that anyone qualifies at any age and any stage. And Refreshment can of course happen without changing jobs. It’s just a matter of discovering how to unlock the very real, and very magical, power of choice.

I named this blog The Retirement Chronicles, before I fully felt how much that word needed fixing. So I’ll keep the title for this collection, and I’m definitely adopting the word “Refreshment” from here on out.