I’m staring at the computer with heart palpitations. I’m working on my first draft of my retirement/resignation letter to my manager.
In another week (or two, the date is fluid) I am going to give my retirement notice. I have spent 15 years with my current company and a lifetime of work in healthcare, both as a clinician and as a salesperson. It really is time to go—I am less and less excited about getting up and participating in the daily grind. Healthcare has become more of a business and less of a calling for everyone out there and it’s stressful. The problem with that is, I am an “all in” kind of person. I don’t do anything halfway. If I work, I work hard. So, I need to move on.
Retirement is a dichotomy…
I’m not literally “retiring” from work in the traditional sense. There’s no pension, no vacation payout, no party, and no gold watch. Those benefits dissolved a few years ago when another major medical manufacturer spun us off and then sold us. For the past few years we have had a new owner, a giant in healthcare, who after absorbing us are wiping out our identity and culture in order to “fix” us. I get that, they purchased us, it’s their right. My timing is perfect and I get to move on while others have to endure a little longer.
I have loved being part of a smaller, specialty company with a passionate mission–one that had an older than average, technically savvy, and successful sales force. I have been proud to be associated with many of the people there. But that is now gone and I have grown impatient with constant change and I am losing my filters!
Retirement is a dichotomy—a mourning of what will be lost—a work identity, career relationships and even strong friendships, but also a celebration of accomplishments. But I will gain the freedom of having time to do what interests me, creating more time for family and friends, and rediscovering interests from the past and creating new experiences in the future. Maybe those new experiences will include paid work? I don’t know, but it’s time to leap.
Back to composing the letter…