In the previous article I wrote about coaching in general, a little superficial, but the idea was to inform the public about the practice, which has grown a lot in recent years.
Now I want to talk a little bit about the phase of professional life when we have to make a decision about what we are going to do after retirement. The demand for coaching or counseling for people who have reached “retirement age” and need to get back on track in life has increased significantly.
In fact, we need to review the concepts of Seniors and retirement, in view of the advancement in longevity that people are experiencing today. If we compare to the time of our grandparents, the impression is that we gain at least 20 to 30 years of life when it comes to old age or retirement age.
In the old days, those who reached the age of 50 or 55 were ready to end their professional life and join the domino and deck team in the square closest to their home. Today, nobody thinks of quitting at 80 or 85 years of age, except for reasons of illness.
the label of "Retired" it brought with it a synonym for old age, uselessness, burden for the family and diseases, myths that, nowadays, do not pass even close to the “big old men and old ladies who walk around”.
In another article I had the opportunity to mention that this subject is not new, and was already treated by Marcus Tullius Cicero, philosopher, orator and Roman politician, about half a century BC (that is, before Christ), in his book Saber Aging that deals with the relationship of the human being with old age. At that time, he already demystified what he considered the four main reasons that led people to hate the arrival of old age, which are: (1) It takes us away from active life, (2) It weakens our body, (3) It deprives us of the best pleasures and (4) It brings us closer to death. Anyone interested in knowing the answers is just looking for the book in question.
In the time of my parents and grandparents, the good professional was the one who joined a company as soon as he graduated and stayed until retirement, a culture that is totally outdated. Today's personal and professional life cycles lead us to think about multiple professional careers and a huge diversity of activities linked to the quality of life of each one of us. The opportunities are numerous, both professionally and personally, at work or at leisure, especially with the growing number of institutions working in the Third Sector and looking for experienced people to help professionalize their administration.
As fallible human beings, we cannot escape becoming old someday, but we can stave off old age by keeping our mind, body, and spirit active until the end of our earthly existence. The scientific and technological advances experienced in recent decades, with examples in the areas of hygiene and safety, transport, nutrition, medicine, medicines and cosmetics, hospitals and state-of-the-art diagnostic and surgical equipment, have improved our quality of life. in such a way that we see ourselves living longer and better. The digital age, through its quantum advances, allow us to be tuned and connected to everything that happens in the world in a fraction of a second. Social networks, video or text communications bring us face to face with a friend or family member anywhere in the world in real time.
Information is available to us in the form of physical or digital books and also on the internet, as never before. Transforming information into knowledge depends on our interest in delving into the information obtained, and knowledge becomes wisdom when we put it into practice for the good of ourselves and the people around us.
In other words, the body ages without our permission, but our mind and soul only age if we allow it!
