Article June 22, 2015 Issue

Regeneration in retirement

Margaret Lewis

I’d “flunked” retirement several times. After three terms in the Wisconsin State Legislature, I “retired” to raise three children. After reentering the workforce and spending 12 years as a university administrator, I felt it was time to move on again. I began to collect retirement benefits, only to be lured away months later to take a position as a nonprofit executive. When I left five years later, I felt I had given all I had to offer to the organization. I was happy to pass the baton to the next leader in order to spend more time on the things that mattered most to me.

I was expecting paradise. Instead I felt loss. It seemed to be the end of many satisfying relationships. An end to the ability to make a difference in the world. An end to purposeful living and opportunities for growth. This next phase of life should have been a joyful one, just the next turn on a forward path. Instead, I was taken in by the testimony of friends who said they felt invisible and voiceless when they retired.

I had lost heart, and it was affecting my health. I had prayed about alarming chest pains on and off for several years. Then came the wake-up call. I had chest pains so severe that I feared for my life.

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