Retirement ... encore!

During the past week, a friend gave me two readings, both proposing that the process of aging—in fact, the process of adult development in general—is undergoing major change. The time has come, they argue, to declare a new developmental stage for the years after midlife and before old age, after the primary career and before full retirement. Lots of folks promoting this vision are calling it the “encore” stage. 

I had really complicated reactions to this stuff. I both loved it and found it deeply problematic. So, following my partner’s sage advice, I’m going to talk about it in two steps: (1) the idea of an encore stage after midlife and before old age and (2) some of the problems this idea raises (at least in my mind). This time, I’ll talk about the idea. Stay tuned for (or tune out, your choice) the second installment.

OK, so it’s not a stretch to say that adulthood has changed, has gotten more complicated. Chalk it up to the baby boomers, who are now moving in huge numbers beyond “midlife” but still not embracing “old age.” Or blame it on the miracles of modern medicine that are keeping us alive and active far beyond the age at which our forebears died. Or attribute it to the growing number of people who are retiring earlier and facing decades of healthy life ahead. Or, more recently, to the number of folks who couldn’t retire (or who “unretired”) because of the recession. Or all of those and more …

Whatever the reason, many people now face a lot of years after the end of midlife, after their initial career or job trajectory winds down. Years when they are eager to do something more (and, often, something more useful) than just engaging in leisure activities, traveling, playing with grandkids—the old stalwart pastimes of retirement. Increasingly, folks are still interested in being engaged in some sort of productive activity and, often, in making a real contribution to their communities.

These particular writings talk about these trends in terms of this notion of the encore career. The first item is a book called The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage beyond Midlife (Marc Freedman, Public Affairs Press, 2011). The book explains (in some detail) this major shift in how people are aging. Not only are we living longer, healthier lives, but many people are genuinely interested in working (in some capacity) far beyond their usual working life. To fully embrace this shift, the book argues, we need to throw out the old developmental models, where midlife is followed directly by old age (remember Erik Erikson’s “Eight Stages of Man [sic]”?). In their place, we need to re-write our collective life story, adding in this “encore” stage. Among my favorite proposals is that this encore might often be preceded by a “gap year,” a year off to get your bearings, try things out, consider how to spend the next stage—just as some young adults now take a year off between college and whatever follows. Beyond that delightful proposal, the book suggests a whole range of programmatic changes—on the personal, community, and governmental levels—that would facilitate the invention of this new stage.

The same perspective is raised, in a much briefer form, in the second reading, an AP article reprinted in the Denver Post called “For boomers, time for an encore.” This article makes much the same point (in fact, I checked to see if this article was a promotion for the book; it wasn’t). The article highlights a group (and website) called Encore.org, whose aim is to connect people with new careers that combine “purpose, passion, and a paycheck.” It also lists a bunch of ideas for specific career paths that “encore” stagers might pursue.

This whole idea appeals to me in a couple of ways. First, it’s always seemed odd to me how slowly models of human development change. They’re about change, for Pete’s sake! Yet we’re still citing Erik Erikson (1955) as we talk about development in 2012. And of all the stages that have changed, later adulthood may be the most fluid of all, if only because it has become so flipping long! Not only do we live longer, but retirement comes increasingly earlier—especially since, during this last generation, Medicare was introduced (1965) and Social Security benefits were increased (1972). So of course later adulthood has changed. And I find it invigorating to contemplate re-writing the rules for what “normal” or even “typical” adult development looks like in this new age.

I also like this stuff because it fits so well with my perennial emphasis on things wonderful about aging (see former blogs on “Celebrating Oldness” and “Bucket Lists and Donuts,” among others). This “encore” vision portrays retirement not as the end of our productive years but as a sort of re-set before entering a new and equally expansive stage of life. As anyone who’s listened to me rant about this knows, I worry that we're too quick to dwell on the losses of aging and too reluctant to embrace its gifts. Clearly, this new model offers inspiration—and even some direction—for folks who are searching for a meaningful and productive way to spend their post-midlife years. So the encore stage appeals to me big time in this way.

Also, and less comfortably, this feels like a personal challenge to me. Reading these pieces, I have to ask myself whether I’m taking full advantage of my encore time, or whether I’m treating it like an old-time retirement-on-the-front-porch stage, “old age” in those outdated developmental models. Am I slacking when I should be beating the bushes for a fulfilling new career? Am I resigning myself to the pasture when I still should be on the race track?

Or, alternatively, is this encore model just another source of pressure to “do it right”?

So suggests one psychologist, who’s concerned that this new view of aging that urges a new career with passion and purpose might just add another burden for post-retirement folks: stay active, stay engaged, stay healthy, stay connected to social networks. Oh yeah, and in your spare time, stay working. But stay out of the way of younger workers. This pressure, she argues, “denies the reality of aging.” She continues, “If there’s one thing great about getting older, [it’s that] certain things are liberating ... Do we really want to put more societal pressure on people as they grow older to look and act ever younger?”

To draw on that earlier “Bucket Lists and Donuts” blog, do we have to have a bucket list and an encore career to be “healthy” as we age? Or can we enjoy the occasional donut and call it good? I wish I had the answer. Instead, I just keep reading (and blogging), hoping to outlast the question.

Truth is, it sometimes seems like getting older is flat-out hard work, and the constant need to rethink how we’re doing it can be exhausting. So, let me shift to a different (but, I fear, no less heavy) topic. Next time I’ll talk about what I think is a major shortcoming of this new encore model. Other than that it requires serious reflection.

Just when we were having a good time …