I Never Found That Rocking Chair: God's Call at Retirement

Rating:
Summary: I was looking for the rocking chair
Review: My wife and I stumbled on this little jewel of a book in a local bookstore while attending an out of town church retreat. At the time we were about 2 years from my retirement and already planning for and looking forward to early retirement. One of my dreams for years had been retirement to a mountain cabin home with a rocking chair on its screened porch. With the vision in mind this book's title captured our attention as we browsed the shelves.

I really did not want to achieve its title, but the section headings in the Table of Contents spoke to me, particularly "Experiencing That First Freedom", "Fragmented by Busyness", and "Finding That Creative Balance". We made the plunge and have been very thankful that we did.

Over the next year and a half as we moved toward retirement, we read a chapter every weekend morning that we were at our future mountain home fixing it up. Occasionally I had difficulty relating to some of the author's experiences, since he is a retired minister, but in many of the 74 chapters he spoke directly to us.

In chapter 12, "Redeemed from John Henryism", the author talks about John Henry, "the best steel-driving man on the railroad". "In a contest, John Henry did indeed beat the machine and then collapsed with a ruptured blood vessel in his head. Not exactly a successful end to his career." Richard professes to be a John Henry, who "liked tackling things other people couldn't do". To some extent we all are John Henrys at times and that is not physically nor emotional good for us. In completing the chapter the author tells us how he has achieved "deliverance from the compulsive need to achieve at any cost."

For many the sudden transition from fulltime work outside the home to fully retirement inside the home can be traumatic. Richard address this directly in the opening quote for his Section IV, "Downum Street Blues", "The moment of retirement itself may be a shocking encounter .... for those whose creativity and involvement in work has been of major importance and whose identity is largely derived from that work, there can be a bitter and deprived feeling of being expelled and depreciated."

Two months into retirement, we are adjusting very well and we feel this book was a significant factor in our preparation and planning.

Rating:
Summary: I was looking for the rocking chair
Review: My wife and I stumbled on this little jewel of a book in a local bookstore while attending an out of town church retreat. At the time we were about 2 years from my retirement and already planning for and looking forward to early retirement. One of my dreams for years had been retirement to a mountain cabin home with a rocking chair on its screened porch. With the vision in mind this book's title captured our attention as we browsed the shelves.

I really did not want to achieve its title, but the section headings in the Table of Contents spoke to me, particularly "Experiencing That First Freedom", "Fragmented by Busyness", and "Finding That Creative Balance". We made the plunge and have been very thankful that we did.

Over the next year and a half as we moved toward retirement, we read a chapter every weekend morning that we were at our future mountain home fixing it up. Occasionally I had difficulty relating to some of the author's experiences, since he is a retired minister, but in many of the 74 chapters he spoke directly to us.

In chapter 12, "Redeemed from John Henryism", the author talks about John Henry, "the best steel-driving man on the railroad". "In a contest, John Henry did indeed beat the machine and then collapsed with a ruptured blood vessel in his head. Not exactly a successful end to his career." Richard professes to be a John Henry, who "liked tackling things other people couldn't do". To some extent we all are John Henrys at times and that is not physically nor emotional good for us. In completing the chapter the author tells us how he has achieved "deliverance from the compulsive need to achieve at any cost."

For many the sudden transition from fulltime work outside the home to fully retirement inside the home can be traumatic. Richard address this directly in the opening quote for his Section IV, "Downum Street Blues", "The moment of retirement itself may be a shocking encounter .... for those whose creativity and involvement in work has been of major importance and whose identity is largely derived from that work, there can be a bitter and deprived feeling of being expelled and depreciated."

Two months into retirement, we are adjusting very well and we feel this book was a significant factor in our preparation and planning.