When my friend and academic colleague, Nathalie Martin, and I were catching up over a late spring lunch in Albuquerque’s North Valley, she had no way of knowing that I would “need” her new book. For that matter, neither did I realize that this was a book that is perfectly timed for me and for so many other people I know.
The new book is The Inspired Retirement, which serves as a guide for finding “purpose and passion in your next adventure.” I had recently consulted a retirement counselor, who gave me a simple recommendation about creating a retirement “mantra,” but I’d already more or less forgotten about that tip. But this week, when Nathalie Martin’s book arrived on my doorstep in Pennsylvania, I realized “Ahah! This is the full Monty, so to speak.” This book offers a practical way to prepare during my “two years” of phased retirement as a law professor. Yes, I know that friends of mine reading that last sentence are probably rolling their eyes.
There is also a lot of humor in the book. I started chuckling during one of the early chapters, when I read that one person’s “oh no,” is his partner’s “oh yes,” when it comes to dealing with the next steps in life. As someone who researches, teaches and thinks about aging and next steps in life all the time, you’d think I would have realized that I need more than a financial plan to move forward. The book is — I’m going to say this often — “practical.” It offers step-by-step practical thought exercises to help us think about how we want to spend time, with whom we want to spend time, where we want to go and return from, and much more.
My favorite chapter, so far, captures what Nathalie calls “reinvention stories,” and it was an additional happy surprise to read experiences of people I’d known in my days as a New Mexico lawyer. Well done, Bill, and Sherri, and Jim!
I’ve already ordered another copy of The Inspired Retirement for a friend who is also making plans — and I suspect the book will be helpful not just at the beginning, but at every step along the way to a happy, fulfilled “next stage.”