Transforming Retirement

People are naturally worried about transitions at any stage of their lives, and retirement transitioning presents unique challenges because you realize that your life clock is ticking faster with each passing year. Beyond financial concerns, your true wealth is determined by how you spend your time and how you care for your health. Retirement represents a rich psychological growth time, and successful aging is characterized by cultivating a growth mindset alongside a healthy dose of grit, or passion plus persistence.
This book shares insights from a survey of 125 participants, all of whom are 55 or older, on retirement beliefs and time management. The author encourages retirees to embrace the concept of rewiring their brains in a psychological reboot applying to both work and non-work scenarios. Each chapter presents rewiring exercises that prepare space for new possibilities to germinate immediately, and “possibility time” exercises that foster digging deeper into legacy roots for shaping days where you can flourish. Seasoned citizen years have the possibility of becoming your greatest life plots when you rewire your personality and ability skillset.

Janis Clark Johnston earned a doctorate in counseling psychology from Boston University. Her career includes roles of school psychologist, consulting psychologist at a mental health center, employee assistance therapist, and private practice family psychologist.

Janis Clark Johnston
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 266
Bibliographic Info: appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9268-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5001-2
Imprint: Toplight

Acknowledgment of Gratitude ix

Preface 1

Introduction: Possibilities to Make Your Encore Years Bloom 5

Part I. Loving Possibilities 17

 1. Passion for Oneself 18

 2. Compassion for Others 40

 3. Be a Tender Befriender 60

Part II. Activity Possibilities 79

 4. Purposeful Vocations 80

 5. Purposeful Volunteering 101

 6. Be a Curator of Health’s Wealth 120

Part III. Narrative Possibilities 141

 7. Sharing Life-Affirming Stories 142

 8. Sharing Death-Affirming Stories 162

 9. Be Aware (and Beware) of ­Self-Meanings 182

Summary: Encore Chapter 201

10. Last Dance 202

Appendix I. Johnston Retirement Survey 221

Appendix II. Johnston Pandemic Survey 222

Chapter Notes 223

References 241

Index 251

• Winner, Nonfiction Book for Adult Readers, General Nonfiction—Illinois Woman’s Press Association

• Winner, Writing: Nonfiction Book for Adult Readers, General Nonfiction—The National Federation of Press Women, Inc.

• “Johnston challenges those in the 55+ age group to transform their retirement years through ‘rewiring’ their skillsets and talents. Longevity is the new frontier and this insightful and invigorating book is a guide for active Boomer+ pioneers in their quest for purpose and meaning in retirement.”—Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., author of What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life’s Third Age

• “As one of the growing population of ‘seasoned citizens’ navigating the transition to blooming in our elder years, I have been waiting for this book, Transforming Retirement. Dr. Johnston’s abundant harvest of her own experiences, her extensive studies of psychological and spiritual masters, and her current research of others’ personal stories is an inspiring and practical guide to rewire the psychological and spiritual burdens of painful legacies and to embrace purpose, passion, and possibilities in our final developmental stage, whether we are retired, semi-retired, or never-retired.”—Susan McConnell, MA, CHT, author of  Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy

• “Johnston’s Transforming Retirement is a rich, thoughtful, and practical guide to being accountable for transitioning from the scripts of earlier life to a time in which one is thrown back upon oneself, when one is obliged to ask, ‘who am I apart from my roles, assignments, structures, and what now am I to do with this life?’”—James Hollis, Ph.D., Jungian analyst, author of Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up