Mid-Career Professional Sees Things Differently

Are you carrying around an image of retirement based on your parents' experience? After attending the first Life by Design NW course through PCC Community Education, Kathie Cole, mid-career professional at PGE, sees things differently.

"As I continue to broaden my learning, every once in a while I get a deeper insight into my own life. My experience in the Life by Design NW course changed my perspective on my life after retirement. Until I went through the program I didn't realize I was carrying around an image of retirement based on what I saw my father do. For my father, retirement was the stopping of work and the beginning of the end of his life. He quit doing the things he loved, he stopped socializing with friends and relatives, and he became isolated and alone. I watched a once-vital man of 65 suddenly become old. This may have been due to the fact that he did not plan for his life after retirement.

"Life by Design NW engaged me in a series of thoughtful activities that led me to change that picture of retirement. In fact I no longer think in terms of 'retirement,' but rather 'continuation and transition' -- a change of life on my terms, doing the things I truly love. I now look forward to "retirement" with excitement and enthusiasm, knowing that I have the freedom to re-imagine my later years as vital, engaged, active, productive, and rewarding. My life by my design!