The Spirit of Retirement: Creating a Life of Meaning and Personal Growth

For some people, the word ""retirement"" evokes images of farewell parties, vacations, golf games and, at long last, real progress on oft-postponed household projects. But according to Autry (Love and Profit), who once served as the president of a large corporation and is now a public speaker and consultant, the intial euphoria soon wears off, leaving the retiree with a hard realization: ""For the first time in my life I don't have a job."" In this compact, inspiring book, Autry insists that retirement is actually an opportunity for people to ""stop doing and concentrate on being."" To that end, he shares stories about retirees who made successful transitions to retirement and juxtaposes these anecdotes with questions and exercises for readers. Retirement is a time for changing one's approach to life, reinvigorating friendships, serving the community, finding nature and expressing one's inner creativity, explains the author, and his book-alternately pragmatic and spiritual-should serve disillusioned retirees well.