Equigravisphere

Pulling away from one thing and being drawn toward another... or not

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Happy Wednesday!

Thank you for all the lovely replies to last week’s email.

I received dozens of messages, all full of warmth, empathy, and kindness.

You have my (and Elizabeth’s) sincere appreciation and gratitude. 🙏

A few months back, I read Robert Kurson’s book, Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon.

Like all of Kurson’s books, it was hard to put down.

The one thing in the book that stuck with me was his description of the “equigravisphere.”

First of all, c’mon… that’s a pretty cool word.

In the book, it was explained as the exact point in space where the Apollo 8 command module leaves the Earth’s gravity and enters the Moon’s gravity.

My unscientific mind thinks of it as escaping the pull of the Earth while starting to be drawn toward the Moon.

But what if the Apollo 8 command module was focused just on leaving Earth’s gravity and wasn’t destined for lunar orbit?

If the mission was just about escaping the Earth, what would happen next?

Without a clear destination or strategy, I imagine the Apollo 8 crew would tumble aimlessly through the universe.

But they would have achieved the primary goal and escaped Earth’s gravity.

Planning to retire is much the same.

Think of it like leaving the gravity of full-time work and being drawn toward retirement.

You begin to decelerate away from your career and start to accelerate toward retirement.

Or whatever may be next for you.

Your “retirement equigravisphere” is a quiet but meaningful line to cross, isn’t it?

You’ll likely have doubts. Questions. Concerns.

• Is now the right time?

• What if the market/economy collapses?

• After the “retirement honeymoon” wears off, how am I going to fill the 8+ hours a day when I was working?

• Is my spouse going to drive me crazy? Am I going to drive him crazy?

• Do I have enough?

• What haven’t I thought about?

• Am I going to be OK?

But if you’re only focused on “escaping from work” instead of retiring to something, you may be in for disappointment.

Many of us (and I’m raising my hand here 🙋‍♂️) have so much of our identity tied up in our work. And that can make retirement scary…

Sure, maybe we’ll miss some parts of our work and our relationships with coworkers who have become friends.

But the real fear is rooted in wondering, “Who am I if I’m no longer a __________________?” (insert your title or profession here)

So many of us think that we are what we do.

In reality we’re not so one-dimensional.

We’re much more than our jobs. Aren’t we?

Maybe you’re a corporate professional, a stay-at-home Mom, an attorney, a therapist, or something else entirely.

But you’re also a daughter, a niece, a sister, an aunt, a spouse, a Mom, a cousin, a Grandmother.

Maybe you’re also a tennis player, a gardener, a traveler, a writer, a photographer, a you-name-it.

Think of all the facets of who you are and what you do - hobbies, interests, and aspirations outside of your primary money-earning work.

Also, retirement is a great time to explore and nurture what interests you.

But it’s not the best time…

No, the absolute best time to start exploring what interests you isn’t when you’re ready to retire.

It’s right now.

Today.

This very moment.

Regardless of your age, don’t wait. Don’t unintentionally sign up for the deferred life plan.

As I mentioned just last week, none of us know how much time we have left to do the things we want with the people (and pets) that are important to us.

In retirement, every day will be a Saturday.

How will you manage that?

I’ve met a few people over my 30+ years whose sole goal was to retire.

Full stop.

When I asked what they were most excited about doing in retirement, there was a long, awkward pause…

They just wanted to stop working.

They wanted to be retired.

But they hadn’t really thought about what retirement would look like. How it would feel. How it would taste. The possibilities that awaited them.

To revisit the idea of the equigravisphere, these folks were so focused on escaping the gravity of full-time work, they hadn’t considered where they might be going or what they’d be drawn to after full-time work was done.

Rather than trying, testing, and tasting who they wanted to be and how they wanted to spend their abundance of newfound time in retirement, they were setting a course to tumble aimlessly through the universe.

And remember, “retirement” is a relatively new thing.

We’re all still figuring it out as we go.

I don’t have all the answers.

But I do have some good questions.

And a process to help you explore not just who you are today, but who you want to be tomorrow.

You’re the one-and-only person who can define what “success” means to you in retirement and in life.

Though I do like this quote:

There is only one success—to be able to spend your life in your own way.
—Christopher Morley

And we can discover and explore how to align your financial resources to support your unique definition of success.

Together.

Starting today.

Not waiting until you’re ready to cross your version of the equigravisphere into retirement.

What do you think?

Are you retiring to something?

Being drawn toward an exciting future you’re going to deliberately design?

Are your best years ahead of you?

Or are you just wanting to simply escape work and then whatever comes next, so be it?

Before I close, let me introduce a 3rd option:

• Find and pursue work today you enjoy so much that it doesn’t feel like work at all.

This may allow you to banish the word “retirement” from your vocabulary (and your financial plan) entirely.

But be careful… see above about having who you are too mixed up with what you do…

How will you define success and what’s your strategy to pursue it?

And what are you waiting on?

Life doesn’t start when your paycheck stops 😉

Hit reply or leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Just published this article you might find interesting:

👆 Give it a read and let me know if you agree or disagree.

Anything I missed?

How am I doing?

I love hearing from readers, and I’m always looking for feedback. How am I doing with the Wealthcare for Women Weekly? Is there anything you’d like to see more or less of? Which aspects of the newsletter do you enjoy the most?

Hit reply and say hello - I’d love to hear from you.

And as always, thanks for reading.

Until next Wednesday,

Russ

Retirement Planning for Women

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Disclosures