Tom Brady’s retirement makes me evaluate my own professional clock

Tom Brady, considered the best quarterback to ever play football, is retiring, this time for good, and my reaction to his announcement — a chest-tightening — surprised me, but not because I’m a Brady groupie. The news simply reminded me of a reality I try not to think about too much.

People in my circle are retiring at a much faster clip than beginning new jobs.

They’re hanging up their briefcases (or cleats, as in Brady’s case) and moving on to another stage in life: more trips, more golf, more time with the grandchildren, more lunches and happy hours. For many, retirement has been a long time coming, an earned break from punishing schedules, difficult commutes and demanding bosses.

I know, I know. None of this should be unexpected. I’m of the age when people are reassessing how they spend their days. In the past three months alone, one friend sold her business, another quit her job to help with a new grandchild, and a third, who has yet to turn 60, joined her husband when he left the workforce.

It’s not just older folk escaping the daily grind, though. A couple of younger workers I know are advocates of a popular lifestyle movement called FIRE, for “Financial Independence, Retire Early.” In their 20s and 30s, they save most of their salary in order to build a sizable nest egg. They hustle on side gigs or invest in real estate. The goal: leaving the workplace before retirement age.

With all the retirement planning and parties going around, I feel a little left out. I have no immediate (or long-range) plans to put aside my pen. I enjoy the days when I beat up my brain, grasping for just the right word, wrestling with the perfect phrase. The exhaustion is exhilarating, and though my adult children insist it’s time for me to step back, or to “take it easy,” I find that I still put in a full shift at my desk.

Fulfillment, I tell my sons, arrives in many forms. For some, it’s in volunteering. For others, it’s amassing wealth or passing on knowledge. For me, it’s spending chunks of time alone, pounding away at my keyboard. (Sometimes that also involves pulling my hair in frustration, but I tend to easily forget those moments.)

Perhaps I feel this way because I work for myself. Or, because I love what I do. Or, because the challenge of creation never grows old. I might think differently if I was forced to deal with the unpleasant aspects of workplace politics. I’m very aware that I’m luckier than most. No one is telling me to sit in front of the unforgiving screen. No one is requiring I keep a set schedule. In fact, no one is telling me to continue working, period.

Just the same, all this recent ado over retirement in my immediate sphere has got me thinking about how best to approach this last third of my life. Slow down? Continue as always? Trade writing for volunteering? Move from my hometown? Begin a new career altogether? (It’s never too late, really. Consider the septuagenarians who — finally! — get a college degree along with their grandkids.)

In previous generations, retirement didn’t last long because our life expectancy was shorter. Now, most of us, if we are healthy enough, are looking at 20 years, give or take, beyond the typical quitting age. How do we best fill those halcyon days?

While my current answer to that question may never change, here is an interesting trend that caught my attention. Several economists have reported that a not-insignificant number of workers who retired during the pandemic are now heading back to work. “Quiet returning,” they call it.

The shift may not be a vindication of my choice, but it does make this working girl feel better, or at least less left out.

Ana Veciana-Suarez writes about family and social issues. Email her at [email protected] or visit her website anavecianasuarez.com. Follow @AnaVeciana.

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