I Didn't Retire, I Graduated!

[USGrant1962]

Bbo Carlson's newsletter mentioned a Roger Federer Dartmouth graduation speech where he said he hates the term retired. Instead he says he graduated from tennis. So I graduated from megacorp! And changed my sig to match.

From Federer's speech, his discussion of retiring/graduating from playing tennis sounds just like retiring/graduating from working:

So I never went to college... but I did graduate recently.
I graduated tennis.
I know the word is “retire.” “Roger Federer retired from tennis.” Retired... The word is awful.
You wouldn’t say you retired from college, right? Sounds terrible.
Like you, I’ve finished one big thing and I’m moving on to the next.
Like you, I’m figuring out what that is.
Graduates, I feel your pain.
I know what it’s like when people keep asking what your plan is for the rest of your life.
They ask me: “Now that you are not a professional tennis player, what do you do?”
I don’t know… and it’s OK not to know.
So what do I do with my time?
I’m a dad first, so, I guess, I drive my kids to school?
Play chess online against strangers?
Vacuum the house?
No, in truth, I’m loving the life of a tennis graduate. I graduated tennis in 2022, and you are graduating college in 2024.

What do you think?

 

[Lorenzo]

I love the concept of "graduating." When I graduated high school, I couldn't wait to get off to college. When I graduated college, I couldn't wait to begin making a whole new life for myself. So I can really see how treating retirement as graduating would appeal to me. Unfortunately, I did not have a traditional retirement but rather just wound down slowly. No party, no well wishes, no real changes. Now that I think about it in terms of "graduating," perhaps this slow transition didn't suit my personality as much as a traditional retirement would have.

 

[rk911]

Seems silly to me but I respect your choice. Me? I'm retired.

 

[audreyh1]

I always saw retirement (from work) as a new phase in our lives. Financial independence plus few time or location obligations is a whole new world. Talk about freedom!

 

[MC Rider]

I Graduated from having to W*rk every day and now I'm Retired.

So, I can do whatever I want, as long as it does not hurt too much or cost too much or _______.

 

[street]

Retirement isn't the end but the start or beginning.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

I actually quite like it. Indeed, in a very real way I felt like I was simply done with what megacorp had to offer me.

Yes, I retired but not to a life of nothing. I’m doing a whole lot of new things and learning loads along the way. A lot like finishing college actually. A major joy of college is its intense, nearly singular focus. But when you graduate you realize how wonderful it is to escape of that structure.

I sort of feel the same way now.

 

[Koolau]

I've adopted the word "graduation" for my next phase (following retirement).

 

[flyingaway]

In some culture, retired is a slightly negative term, slighly implying that you are not much useful anymore. Because the powerfuls are never "retired".

 

[imjustawarrior]

I looked up the definitions of retired. I don't see anything offensive with the definitions. I actually like the definitions. I don't see any point in muddling the definitions of retired and graduated.

I am retired.

 

[MuirWannabe]

I thought this was a much more interesting and relevant portion of his speech. About not focusing on the negative and keep looking ahead.

 

[audreyh1]

Leaving work was so I could do more important things since I didn’t need to work anymore.

 

[GrayHare]

graduate? well, ok, except instead of Pomp and Circumstance here it's more Limp and Hurts To Stand

 

[CaptTom]

I thought of it more as "paroled."

 

[audreyh1]

I thought of it more as "paroled."

I definitely escaped from doing time!

 

[CaptTom]

I tried escaping. But the golden handcuffs kept me incarcerated until I was eligible for parole (pension.)

 

[treeofpain]

"EG"?

 

[Koolau]

I tried escaping. But the golden handcuffs kept me incarcerated until I was eligible for parole (pension.)

Pension AND supplemented health care in my case.

 

[Dtail]

I thought this was a much more interesting and relevant portion of his speech. About not focusing on the negative and keep looking ahead.

Really nice clip. Always did like him.

 

[sparky08]

I quit a job that I hated. Goofed off for a year. And now average 10-15 hrs per week doing rewarding work that I love.

So, I don't think that I retired.

 

[Car-Guy]

Personally, I don't care what they call it. I still work (around the house) but on my schedule and I'm my own boss, well except for the DW.

 

[Koolau]

I quit a job that I hated. Goofed off for a year. And now average 10-15 hrs per week doing rewarding work that I love.

So, I don't think that I retired.

If you love what you are doing, you are entitled to call it something other than w*rk. Therefore you can claim that you are retired? Glad I could help.

 

[TickTock]

Meh. It all depends on what emotional connotations 'retired' and 'graduated' have to you.

 

[kilgore]

I am retired (for 20+:years) and grateful. Period.

 

[newby]

After retiring/graduating from mega corp we bought a small farm. I always smile when I get in my truck to head to the farm and my phone tells me there is light traffic to work. If it only knew how much fun I was having it wouldn't think I was going to work!