Procrastination produces perfect retirement
““I had always intended to retire at 65 but I was too disorganised to do anything about it.””
I was Director of Emergency Medicine for twenty-five years and eventually got a bit burnt out by all the politics and inaction by the usual culprits in addressing the access block and overcrowding issues. I therefore retired as Director and went back onto the floor, full-time and 1 in 3 on call. (I have never worked part-time in my entire working life.)
When I walked out of the office for the last time, I felt as though a great weight had lifted off my shoulders. I always thought this was just a dramatic figure of speech but, to my surprise, I really did experience it. It was just a massive sense of relief.
As Director, I always kept a 0.25 FTE clinical load and regular on-call. In the first seven years, I was on-call 1 in 1, but in the last decade, it was 1 in 3. I preferred being on-call frequently because being called in provided additional exposure to major trauma and other complex and difficult cases, which helped keep my skills up. In the last few years, our night staffing had markedly improved and call-backs for workload issues had essentially ceased.
““What do I do in retirement? My partner and I love travelling.””
When I moved back to full-time clinical work, I found that there were some areas where I felt I had lost some confidence through lack of exposure. Managing sick neonates, which were uncommon in our department, was the one area in which I never got sufficient exposure to really regain full confidence.
I had always intended to retire at 65 but I was too disorganised to do anything about it. I then decided it was to be the end of the financial year when I was 66, which then became when I was 67. The overcrowding, the access block and the lengths of stay were appalling. In some years, the 24-hour stays were the worst in the country.
The waiting room medicine was getting so dangerous that many, if not most, of the experienced nurses were reducing their hours or leaving. I didn't need the money, so, after assisting three trainees pass their Primary Exam, I retired when I reached 68.
That was it. So easy. Absolutely the right time in every respect, no regrets and no looking back and wondering. (As an aside, because of COVID, no gatherings were permitted, so I didn’t even get an afternoon tea to mark my departure.)
““Retire when your colleagues appear sad to see you leave.””
What do I do in retirement? My partner and I love travelling. COVID-19 took three years out of our travelling lives that we will never get back. I like going to interesting places and then creating photo books. We have a late-Victorian house with a sizable garden that keeps me busy, as do my four children and eight grandchildren. I never wake in the morning and wonder how to fill my day. The whole retirement process was quite simple and painless.
I am not sure I am in a position to offer any suggestions or advice about when to retire – it was all a bit too easy for me. Obviously, one's financial situation is very important, but I think one should not get to the point where one is chronically unhappy at work. Definitely don’t continue to work when one's abilities are on the wane so that one's career ends with a tap on the shoulder or, much worse – a disaster.
Retire when your colleagues appear sad to see you leave. For me, having been Director for so long, going part-time lacked logic, as it would have been discouragingly difficult to recover skills that had become a bit rusty. Circumstances obviously vary from person to person, but, for me, I found working full-time and then stopping abruptly at the right time worked a treat.
