Retirement – Learning to Exhale!

I have seen the movie, “Waiting to Exhale”, but I wasn’t quite sure what those women were waiting to exhale about or why they were even holding their breath, but I do know what it means to me now, since I retired! 

Retirement to me (and I am sure many others that are retired), is a wonderful thing!  Not just not having to work an 8 to 4  or 9 to 5 job, but knowing that you have the freedom and the option to work, or not, if you so desire – Learning to Exhale!

I know that the economy is truly in a bad state, right now, and I know that there are so many people that are constantly losing their jobs, and sometimes their hope, but being retired to me has made me appreciate so much more in my life that I would have missed out or would have been too exhausted to enjoy.  Things that I usually would have put off before by using excuses or complaining about – is now no longer a part of my vocabulary. 

So many friends and family often think that I had this thought processed at an early age when I first began working, but it is further from the truth.  I never sat down and set goals that stated I would retire in 30 years and what I would do afterwards.  I didn’t because “life happens” all the time and I am smart enough to know that much. 

In those 30 years that I worked, I have loss loved ones, I have been divorced, I have been abused in my marriages, and talked about and lied on at the job, but during that period, I still didn’t figure out what waiting to exhale was all about. 

I endured many difficult situations, but I learned to separate my personal home life from my work environment.  It didn’t come easy, but my spiritual life had to take an extra leap forward and I had to take an extra step backward to allow God to be more present in my life more than ever. 

I truly know that I am blessed and highly favored and that I am blessed to still be married to a good, hard-working man.  I have a wonderful son and a terrific grandson.  Life is Good, God is Good and Retirement is a wonderful thing! 

Now I can “exhale”!

I am a retired 53 year old African-American woman after 30 years of service with the City of Detroit, July, 2008.

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