Columnist Liz Smith on Smart Women Don't Retire

I was suprised and thrilled to find this post by Liz Smith, longtime columnist for the New York Daily News and one of the celebrity bloggers for the new website wowOwow (The Women on the Web), recommending her readers look for my new book, Smart Women Don't Retire - They Break Free:

On My Tiny Mind: Tax Rebates, Gasoline and a Great New Book
by Liz Smith
May 12, 2008

Pardon me for getting serious for a minute.........There’s a book coming in June titled Smart Women Don’t Retire — They Break Free. This is from The Transition Network and Gail
Rentsch. The subtitle is From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time.

This one is for boomers who continue to pioneer each stage of life and it’s being recommended by AARP, by Suzanne Braun Levine, who was the first editor of Ms Magazine, by Dr. Eileen Hoffman, who is a specialist in women’s health and by Jeri Sedlar, author of Don’t Retire, REWIRE!

Lynn Sherr of ABC, who wrote the foreword, says: “Now that we, the groundbreakers, are at an age when we considered our mothers old but know that we are not … now that we are, or are about to be, in transit, some removed from those careers by choice and some by fiat … what exactly are we supposed to do – with our energy, our connections, our experience, our ideas? We’re scared, we’re excited, we’re eager, we’re reluctant. And most of all, we are bewildered …“This book compiles concrete evidence that the angst of friends and colleagues is, in fact, part of a flood of concern across the nation. The good news is, we are not alone. The better news is, there are some answers here, or at least signposts that point the way to new possibilities.”

Feeling queasy about retirement

Feeling queasy about retirement? Join the crowd. Many of us who’ve worked hard building our careers end up defining who we are by what we do. Sure we have other important parts to our lives but it’s our work that calls the shots, telling us when we can travel for pleasure, play with our kids, do the laundry, shop for clothes (and even what to buy). So the idea of not working full time at our primary career seems like a big step to take. A gigantic step leading us we’re not sure where.

When interviewing women for my book, I spoke to teacher of emotionally disturbed students who loves the fact that she has to be “on” each day. She’s addicted to the action of the classroom. It’s what happens to her during her summer vacation that concerns her. Two loads of wash, a five-mile walk, straightening up the house, and mowing the lawn takes her until eleven o’clock in the morning. After that she’s at a loss about how to find things at home that satisfy her need to accomplish a lot. She sees herself retiring from teaching in five years, but can’t imagine what her life will be like afterward.

Having a work structure and a sense of accomplishment are just two of the many, many intangible things we get from work that keep us going. One woman told me that she wakes up happy each morning knowing she has somewhere to go where she belongs, and blanches at the idea of not having that in her life. Another woman confessed to me that even though she doesn’t socialize evenings and weekends with the people she sees at work each day, she considers them friends and wonders how she will find new friends to replace them if she retires. Still another thinks she will go ballistic if, when she retires, her phone calls are sent to voicemail and not returned the same day.

It’s enough to give us a queasy feeling in our gut.

10 Signs You're in Transition

When I was in my mid-fifties, I was in transition, and clueless. The signs were there but I refused to see them. That’s because if I noticed them, I’d have to think about what comes next. And that was scary! So I kept working at the same things I’d done for the last twenty years, pretending they were still important to me. But denial only works for so long. You’ve got to pay attention to the signs or they will come back and bite you in the ankles. Here are signs that you’re in your mid-life transition:

1. You can’t shake the idea that you’ve just passed a milestone birthday.

2. Your present career plan has reached a plateau and you are questioning the value of your work.

3. You are excessively irritated by new rules and regulations at work, and find such things as commuting in traffic intolerable.

4. Things that previously motivated you at work (having power or being competitive) no longer seem so important to you.

5. You want to read a book for pleasure and not think of it as an action project.

6. You focus on things you aren’t doing in life, and long for a better work/life balance.

7. You want to spend your time doing something that has meaning and purpose.

8. You feel an urgent need to explore your creative side, reconnect with long-lost friends and family, and focus on having a healthy lifestyle.

9. You want to overcome self-limiting foibles and finally discard demons that hold you back.

10. You no longer want to postpone acting upon your dreams.

Adapted from my book, Smart Women Don’t Retire – They Break Free: From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time by THE TRANSITION NETWORK and Gail Rentsch.

Springboard Press/ Grand Central Publishing. June 2008.

check out www.thetransitionnetwork.org

Stay Tuned

Coming in June, 2008,

THE TRANSITION NETWORK's first book,

Smart Women Don't Retire -- They Break Free:
From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time
by GAIL RENTSCH

Foreword by Lynn Sherr,
will be published by Springboard Press, a boomer-focused imprint of Grand Central Publishing

$24.99 at local bookstores