Resources
New Book from Retirement Coaches Association coming soon. Read more about it here.
The current Resources will be moving to BLOGS. In the future this page will be your home for educational articles, downloads, and other helpful materials.
Navigating Change: Tools, Ideas, and Nods of Encouragement
Welcome to Your Resources page – a repository for articles, links, and ideas that might help you steer your career through moments of change (or even a path to reinvention). Think of it as a toolbox you can dip into when you’re feeling stuck, curious, or just in need of a little inspiration. Some resources are practical, some are thought-provoking, and some are here simply because they might spark that “aha” moment we all crave when the path ahead feels fuzzy.
- Why a Retirement Transition Can Feel Disorienting Even When It’s Your Choice
Even when retirement is something you chose, planned for, and looked forward to, the transition can still feel surprisingly unsettling.
That’s what Candace described at our first meeting. After a 20-plus year career as a marketing executive, she couldn’t wait to be free of the early morning alarm clock, all-nighters to meet deadlines, and the 24-7 demands of coordinating a global team. Deep down she knew it was the right time to step away, and yet she found herself wondering, “I wanted this. Why do I still feel out of sorts?”
That feeling can be confusing. Many people experience a kind of disorientation that’s hard to put their finger on, and perhaps a sense of being a little lost.
The Connection Between Work and Identity
Work is rarely just work. Over time, a role, a title, even a company affiliation becomes woven into our identity. It gives shape to our days, offers a sense of purpose, creates built-in relationships, and provide a familiar way to measure progress and contribution.
Research on retirement and identity helps explain why this matters. In her article “Older Canadians’ Identity and Well-Being in Retirement,” Nicky J. Newton presents research that shows how people adapt their sense of self in retirement, and how that’s connected both life satisfaction and a sense of meaning in life.
Retirement is not only about leaving a job. It’s about adapting to a new phase of life without the usual routines, relationships, and rewards that provided meaning for years.
Work often answers questions we don’t even realize we’re asking: Where do I belong? What am I responsible for? Who relies on me? What makes my waking hours feel worthwhile?
For Candace, understanding that some of these questions were lingering beneath the surface set off a lightbulb: “No wonder I’m feeling off. I’m reorganizing not only my time but myself in this next phase of life.”
Reorienting in Retirement
Navigating the questions of “Who am I now?” and “Where do I belong?” can feel tender, uncertain, and even awkward at first. You may need to experiment before you know what feels meaningful now. You may need to grieve parts of your former role, even if you’re happy to leave other parts of it behind. You may need space to discover who you are becoming, not just what you’re leaving.
Retirement is often described as a finish line, but for many people, it feels more like crossing a threshold. The old map no longer quite fits, and the new one has not fully been charted yet.
If you feel disoriented, you are not alone. You may simply be in the very human process of reorganizing your footing in a new chapter.
Exploring Your Identity Questions
In my coaching work, I invite clients to get curious about their identity questions with care and compassion. We look at who you’ve been, what parts of yourself you want to carry forward, and what parts of you may be ready to emerge.
Identity is a part of the Pillars for Post-Work Wellbeing framework that I use in both one-on-one coaching and in a group coaching program where participants have space to reflect, experiment, and learn from others who are navigating similar questions. If you are wondering who you are becoming in this next chapter, let’s chat about how we can explore that question together.
- Feeling Stuck in Retirement? Nature May Reveal Some Answers
Loretta arrived at our coaching session with a frustration she couldn’t quite explain. A few months after leaving a stressful job in nonprofit leadership, she was enjoying longer dinners with her husband, playdates with her granddaughter, and occasional consulting projects that kept her engaged in her passion for education. And yet, every morning she woke with the same nagging guilt. She’d linger over coffee and puzzles, look up, and find it was nearly noon. That familiar inner voice would chime in, right on cue: You’re being lazy. You should be more productive.
Loretta’s inner voice is something I hear from other people in the early stages of retirement: Am I doing this right? What am I supposed to be doing, exactly? I’m stuck!
Why Retirement Can Feel Unexpectedly Difficult
You may be saying to yourself, Loretta just needs to analyze the problem, make a list, and create a plan. She tried those approaches, only to find herself circling the same questions. What’s interesting about being stuck in retirement is that more effortful thinking can keep us locked in place, running in the same thought loops, only faster.
When we’re wrestling with a problem in our heads with high-alert, directed attention, our brains work hard to filter information, leading to exhaustion and the same tired answers. Retirement often presents challenges that cannot be solved in the same ways we solved problems during our working years.
What Nature Can Teach Us About Retirement
Research on nature and creativity shows us another way in. Walking in the woods or observing the ripples of a lake invites a softer, more spontaneous kind of attention, one that stimulates the brain without the same draining quality. A study of Danish creative professionals revealed that exposure to nature increased their curiosity and willingness to explore, made them more open to new and different ideas, and encouraged flexibility in their thinking.
In essence, the natural world offers our cognitive processes a rest, allowing for surprises, new connections, and associations that lie beneath our conscious efforts. For many people navigating retirement, this pause can create space to rediscover purpose and possibility.
A Rock, a Flower, and a New Perspective on Retirement
And that’s the direction Loretta decided to take using an exercise I offer called Writing Toward Wisdom. This practice invites clients to explore a challenge through natural objects, various perspectives, and free writing.
Loretta started with a large black rock and immediately recognized herself in it. That guilt every morning felt heavy, dark, and hard to move. As she began to free write from that perspective, she began to realize that her guilt wasn’t really about her slow mornings. It was about an old belief from decades of long, demanding days: mornings had to be optimized, and if she wasted her time, she would have little chance at being productive.
As she continued to write and observe the rock more closely, she noticed it had been cut in half. On the inside, it had an unusually beautiful texture. What’s really going on down there? she wondered. And in that moment, her frustration began to transform into curiosity.
For the second round of free writing, I prompted Loretta to choose a different object and continue writing about her challenge using this new muse. She picked up a small pink flower. The word that came to her was hopeful, along with the question, What if I just listened every morning to my heart and gut?
As she let her pen float over the paper, she realized that she could let go of the old script from her working days and ask: What would meaningful and productive mornings look like now, on my terms?
Finding Wisdom and Purpose in Retirement
What I love about Loretta’s story, and the research, is that neither a rock nor a walk in the woods gives you something new. What the natural world can provide is a rest from all the problem solving, and more immediate access to wisdom you already have.
When you step outside of your usual way of thinking, you’re offered insightful gifts: a break from an old belief. The spark of a new idea. A surprising connection that hadn’t occurred to you before. A voice that hasn’t had room to speak while you were busy building a career.
Those gifts may not come by problem solving, but by reflecting with a rock, a flower, and a little time to listen.
Explore Retirement with Writing Toward Wisdom
Join me for an upcoming Writing Toward Wisdom workshop, where we’ll put analysis and strategizing to the side. It’ll be you, a set of natural objects, some pens and paper. And you don’t have to be a writer or a creative, just a curious human ready to uncover different perspectives within.
Retirement is not simply the end of a career. It is an invitation to explore who you are becoming. Sometimes the next chapter begins not with answers, but with curiosity.
- Writing Toward Wisdom
What if feeling unsure, anxious, or confused about what life holds after your career isn’t a sign that you’re on the wrong track, but an invitation to listen differently?
That’s the idea at the heart of my chapter in the Retirement Coaches Association’s newest book, due out in June 2026 (order details coming soon!). I share a reflective writing practice I developed called Writing Toward Wisdom, designed for people who are in or approaching life after work and trying to make sense of the questions that can come with this transition.
The process uses simple writing prompts, different inner perspectives, and natural objects, like stones, leaves, shells, or feathers, to help you get beyond overthinking and hear more of what you already know.
And if you’d like to try the process for yourself, I’m offering live online Writing Toward Wisdom workshops based on the chapter. It’s a guided space to explore a question or challenge about your next phase of life with curiosity, compassion, and a little help from nature.
And best of all, you do not need to be “a writer” to participate – just a curious human with a question, a pen, and a willingness to see what shows up on the page.
Read more HERE about upcoming dates.
- The Essentials
I’d like to talk about two big ideas that come up in my work with clients going through change.1. Learning is essential
At a recent TedX taping in Boston, I listened to Zehra Abid-Wood describe the unexpected twists and turns sprinkled throughout her life and career leading up to becoming President at Lasell Village. One statement in particular stood out (and I’m paraphrasing):
“When you find yourself at that moment of leaving something behind, and you don’t yet know what’s next, go learn.”
That line really resonated with me.
In my coaching work, I’ve seen that when people are facing change, they often try to solve it with the same mental tools and perspectives they already have. It’s like rummaging around in a drawer you’ve opened a hundred times – you might shuffle things around, but you’re still looking at the same stuff. That’s often why we get that “going in circles” feeling.
The antidote?
New inputs.
An online workshop.
A book you’ve been meaning to read.
A local interest group.
Even a rabbit hole of online research.When we take in something new, we give our brains fresh puzzle pieces. And with new pieces, entirely different pictures can start to emerge.
2. You don’t have to navigate change alone
Here’s the thing about murky, in-between phases: they can feel a lot less threatening when you talk them through with someone else. Having another brain (and heart) in the room opens up space for broader, more creative thinking.
Research even backs this up: when we talk through obstacles and options with a trusted listener, we’re more likely to remember the new ideas and the commitments we make to ourselves. That boost in clarity and recall makes it much more likely we’ll actually take action.
So whether it’s a mentor, a coach, a friend, or even a peer group, sharing your thoughts out loud can be the bridge between feeling stuck and moving forward.
Change can be daunting, but it can also be a powerful catalyst for growth – especially if you approach it with curiosity, fresh learning, and a little help from your people.
I’ll keep adding articles, links, and nuggets of inspiration here. In the meantime, maybe think about one small thing you could learn this week, and one person you could talk it over with.
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or book a session?
Let’s talk about where you’re headed.