Why You Should Never Retire
By: Ioana Rosca
Tags: Purpose, Retirement, Work, Health, Work Life Balance

We live in a society where our relationship with work is deeply polarizing. On one side of the spectrum, you have the “hustle culture” people, promoting the idea that you should work tirelessly, sacrificing everything from your sleep to your social life, in the interest of growing your business and achieving your goals. You can sleep when you’re dead.

On the other side, you have those who condemn our toxic work culture for draining our energy and taking time away from our families, hobbies, rest, and overall wellbeing, while giving little in return for our sacrifice.

The overarching theme of both these camps is driven by a passion for money and how we make it. In recent years, social media has been flooded with new influencers gaining hundreds of thousands of followers online, teaching young people about money. You’ve got the digital nomads, the FIRE people (financial independence — retire early), the rent hackers, the Amazon FBA aficionados, and the list goes on.

Ultimately, it seems the goal is to save as much money as you can as quickly as you can so that you can retire and finally live the good life. Sounds great. But there’s a crucial piece of the puzzle missing from this retirement plan, and that piece is … Work.

Escaping the 9–5

It’s unsurprising that so many people look forward to retirement; studies show that up to 85% of full-time workers hate their jobs. People come to see retirement as their grand escape from their boring, stressful, unfulfilling 9–5 jobs; their final reward for all those years of hateful labor to put food on the table.

But when we explore the reasons why people hate their jobs, we come to a different conclusion entirely. It’s not the working that bothers them, but rather the nature of the work. For some, it’s a toxic workplace. Constant criticism, no praise, competitiveness instead of camaraderie among coworkers, and incompetent leadership are all valid complaints about the workplace. For others, it’s that the work is unfulfilling — they don’t feel that they’re making a valuable difference in the world with what they do, and they feel easily replaceable because of it. “Anyone can do what I do. If I died, my boss would hire another me in two seconds and you’d never see the difference between my work and theirs.”

But worst of all, people hate jobs that don’t challenge them. Every day is the same. It’s mind-numbing and monotonous, nothing ever changes, they do the same thing every day without ever needing to cultivate a new skill, and as a result, they feel stuck. Trapped in an endless loop, never moving forward.

A reason for living

I have a big problem with the idea that the purpose of work is limited to making money so you can provide for your family and save for your retirement. And my problem is, that the way people perceive retirement — and the way they demonize work as an unpleasant thing we have to do — is inherently flawed.

Phenomena observed among prisoners of war and Holocaust victims led to the coining of the term, “Give-up-itis”, which despite its ridiculous and distinctly un-scientific name, has been recognized as a legitimate medical condition, culminating in psychogenic death — death resulting from the loss of the will to live.

Outside of extreme circumstances like war and genocide, Give-up-itis can potentially be linked to cases of bereaved individuals mysteriously dying within weeks of their spouses. And I think it may also play a role in deaths occurring soon after retirement. In short, purposelessness kills.

An American study showed that those who chose to retire early also died earlier, in comparison to their counterparts who chose to stop working at the standard retirement age of 65, or even later. (It‘s important to note that a Dutch study found the opposite to be true, but these results were dependent on what people did with their retirement, a theme I will expand on in this story.) In fact, it turns out that the two most dangerous years of your life are the year you are born and the year you retire.

Despite the general consensus that working to live is preferable to living to work, the truth about our brains is that they’re programmed to live to work. But it’s the kind of work that you should be paying attention to.

I’m not saying you should continue working for the man for as long as you’re physically able. “Work” has many definitions and isn’t limited to your 9–5 job. I’m a big believer in making your own way and creating a job for yourself that you don’t want to retire from. What I am saying though, is that you need to take “relaxing” off its pedestal as that ultimate goal for your retirement plan, and replace it with learning, creativity, earned periods of meaningful travel, and as many things as possible that positively stress and challenge your brain. In essence, replacing the work you have to do with the work you want to do.

When we stop working, everything stops working. Stopping physical work (whether in the context of manual labor jobs or intentional exercise) means our bodies become weak and unhealthy. When we stop learning (ie. mental work), it becomes more and more difficult for our brains to retain new information. When we stop doing puzzles and brainteasers, our logical thinking skills fade away and our memory deteriorates. When we stop trying new things and developing new skills, even though it may be frustrating and difficult in the beginning, we become bored and depressed due to the lack of mood-boosting neurotransmitter and hormone production associated with novelty.

Our brains and bodies like work. We like to earn things and learn things. It is rewarding to solve a problem. It is exciting to experience something new. Moreover, it’s good for us. Elderly people who do crossword puzzles and sudoku, go on regular walks and work in their gardens, live longer and are less prone to dementia and Alzheimer’s than those who don’t. That’s why this whole idea of “I will work until I’m 60 and then I’ll get to relax,” is inherently flawed. Relaxation has its merits, but when prolonged, it is unfulfilling, unsettling, and just plain boring.

The value of effort

The importance of work and effort can be illustrated by looking at our perception of money that we’ve earned versus money that was handed to us. People who win the lottery almost always end up squandering their winnings on frivolous purchases, ending up right back where they started, while self-made millionaires tend to be very frugal and calculating about what they spend and invest their money on. They’ve had to work for it, therefore they value it more.

We all want things to be easy, but if we imagine a world where everything we want magically appears in front of us with a snap of our fingers, we realize how quickly we would become disillusioned with this way of life. We would soon find ourselves surrounded by stuff we don’t really need — and don’t really even want — that makes us happy for a moment, and bores us the next. Our minds need contrast. Constant happiness without any struggle to compare it to would be bland, and we would feel disinclined to celebrate successes we haven’t worked for. Earning things feels good, because of its unpredictability and the process of personal growth and delayed gratification.

Becoming sedentary, either physically or mentally, has never been good for humankind. When we stop progressing, we start regressing. Evolution requires constant change. It’s the process of thought and discovery that has led to all of the advancements of our modern age, and as such, we have an inherent need to keep moving forward. This means not only doing something worthwhile with your retirement, but also pursuing different career paths when boredom starts setting in, acquiring new skills, and doing hard things. It means traveling for the sake of exploration, not relaxation. Learning out of a sense of curiosity, not obligation. It means injecting newness, discomfort, and unfamiliarity into our everyday lives as much as we possibly can while retaining enough of that similarly desirable and important state of stability.

The key to a healthy retirement

With everything in mind, we need to rethink how, when, and if we should retire. If you find joy and fulfillment in your 9–5 job, then don’t let societal pressure dictate when you decide to hand over the reins to someone else. If you own a thriving business that you’re proud of and enjoy working on, there’s no reason to stop. If you’ve gotten bored of your job but still have steam left in the engine, it’s never too late to try a new career path or take on a new project.

But even if making money is no longer your focus and you really do feel that it’s time to stop working in the conventional sense, there’s a right and a wrong way to do it, and part of doing it right is to continue working, but for pleasure instead of payment.

Social health

Loneliness is very prevalent among remote workers and retirees, and is a known contributor to depression and premature death. Most jobs ensure you get eight hours a day of social contact with coworkers, so when that’s stripped away, it’s important to find other means of keeping loneliness at bay.

Joining group classes in subjects that interest you, working and studying in public places like coffee shops, intentionally planning dates with friends, and spending more time with your family, are all good ways to make sure you don’t become a shut-in.

Staying active

The sofa is not your friend! Whether you’re a young retiree or an older one, physical activity is an undeniably important part of a healthy, happy life. Get a gym membership, go on walks, join a cycling club, start a vegetable garden, do whatever, as long as you find some way of engaging your body physically.

Flex your brain muscles

Physical activity is not the only kind of activity you need to incorporate into your daily routine; mental activity is just as important, if not more so.

Learning is not a thing that should just stop after university, and if you want to take good care of your brain, you’ll make sure of it. Doing brain teasers and learning new skills, reading books and using your critical thinking skills on a regular basis enhances neuroplasticity and neural regeneration, slowing down or preventing age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s. An idle brain becomes a bored brain becomes a broken brain. Don’t let that be you.

Never not be exploring

New experiences, like lifelong learning, contribute positively to our overall wellbeing. So write down a bucket list of all your curiosities and squeeze as many of them into your life as you can. You should only ever allow yourself to feel bored long enough to give you the kick in the behind that you needed to come up with a list of things you’d rather be doing right now than watching daytime TV — and perhaps long enough to recover after doing said things.

Trying new things boosts your mood and is incredibly rewarding to the brain. It also introduces “good stress” into your life. Everyone knows that stress is bad for you. It’s bad for your blood pressure, your mental health, your memory, and your life expectancy. But as with many other “bad” things, it’s the dose that makes the poison. Chronic, daily, overwhelming stress will undeniably have negative repercussions on your life. But what many people forget is that excitement is also a form of stress. The physiological manifestations of excitement and anxiety are virtually identical — increased heart rate and respiration, tense or weakened muscles, sweating, gastrointestinal disturbances. It’s all triggered by the same hormones — adrenaline and cortisol.

Good stress occurs in small, short doses, such as when you’re riding a rollercoaster or exploring an unfamiliar city. You can also trigger it by taking cold showers — the body is put into a moderate state of stress, which helps the nervous system get accustomed to dealing with stress more effectively in the future.

All of these habits benefit brain health and help create a life full of memorable moments. (Well, except the cold showers. You might want to erase those moments from your memory.)

Have an ikigai

Ikigai is a Japanese word that loosely translates to “a reason for being”. In other words, purpose. The popular Venn diagram, featuring four interlocking circles labeled, “that which you love”, “that which you are good at”, “that which you can be paid for”, and “that which the world needs”, is a Westernized misinterpretation of ikigai. In reality, this concept is much simpler. Ikigai is your reason for getting out of bed in the morning.

Purposelessness is a plague, which can easily lead to depression and the aforementioned Give-up-itis. Your ikigai is an ever-evolving sense of reason for your existence. It can manifest itself through a passion for teaching, taking care of your family, writing poetry, doing volunteer work. It can be anything, as long as it motivates you to get out of bed every morning and makes you feel fulfilled, happy, and excited.

When my grandfather retired 18 years ago from his long career as a beloved teacher in our hometown, he started writing poetry and prose. He’s since published around 40 books and continues writing every day. He also got a job as a translator for a metal goods production factory at age 71, and worked there for five years until the company’s higher-ups forced his boss to fire all pensioners. He still occasionally does translation work for the local police and law courts. I strongly believe his love of writing and strong work ethic are some of the reasons why he was able to bounce back from a major heart attack and continues living life with childlike wonder at the age of 82.