Editor’s Note: We are not geared to think beyond our professional years but here is an example of someone who has.
“I retired 2.5 years ago and still do some prn work. My life is rich. I have a life’s companion. I do long distance bike riding, travel the world, take classes such as glass blowing and pottery, read and get to the gym each day. I don’t miss those late-night phone calls from the ER one bit!”
How did I get here before the age of 60? I always had plans to retire early. I worked with a financial planner and avoided the temptation to buy a mansion and to live an extravagant lifestyle. One of my professional experiences expedited this plan.
I was terminated from a job without cause. This tainted my expectation of the career I could have. Here is how it happened.
After an unsatisfying orthopaedic job right out of training, I accepted a desirable position in a city I loved. The backstory was that there had been turmoil in the practice before I was hired. The parent institution “cleaned house” before I came on board and then split the practice off, so it ran on its own. I did not fully realize what I was walking into.
I was well received by the clinical and surgical staff. I had a strong commitment to quality patient care and joined the new practice with a feeling of optimism and enthusiasm. I set up in-service education sessions for the support staff as well as a Morbidity and Mortality conference for the surgeons. Sadly, these sessions highlighted the poor care the chief of service was delivering to his patients. One of my colleagues told me “If you like your job, you better stop.” I didn’t because I did not want to compromise what I viewed as important educational and patient care endeavors. I was not willing to lower my standards.
After five years, when my contract was up for review, it simply wasn’t renewed. It is legal not to renew, with or without cause. I was shocked and saddened. I felt very alone. I had personal friends but had no real professional support system. When colleagues approached me, they did not know what to say. No other job offers came my way to allow me to stay in this city I had come to love. I did stay on temporarily and do ER call work for a local hospital. ER work is easy when you don’t have a day job. This prevented a gap without work on my curriculum vitae. I stayed in this holding pattern for about a year as I was reassessing my future goals. This then led to the expedited retirement planning: I felt like I was in a career that I loved but didn’t love me back! I needed to protect myself and my future.
I love my retirement and have no regrets. With my time, I do fun things or nothing at all. My ground rules are:
- Exercise one hour each day.
- Read at least one hour each day.
- No TV watching between 9am and 5 pm.
I attend a virtual orthopaedic conference once a week. This provides the CME credits necessary for medical licensure and credentialling for my prn work.
A final thought. I have never felt like I truly belong anywhere. Like many women, I have been subject to “Imposter Syndrome.” In my case, I am grateful for the distress it caused me. It led to me making a change in the direction of my career and movement toward early retirement. I now feel like I truly belong in the life I am living and I am very good at it!