Retirement - a blessing in disguise

by Ranjan AMARASINGHE

Many employees in the Private or Public sector who consider hard work as a sine qua non to climb the social ladder of success will undoubtedly find it difficult to come to terms with the inevitable prospect of retirement at a certain age. Unfortunately their mind set is attuned to the hustle and bustle of city life, thus they are unable to perceive the positive aspects of retirement.

Undoubtedly the age of retirement will offer you a way of less stressful life as you will have all the time at your disposal, so that you can pursue some of your cherished hobbies, which you may have forgotten or neglected as a result of your leading an extremely busy and stressful life. Consequently, there is a grave danger of yourself being subjected to serious health conditions such as high blood pressure, heart attacks, and diabetes as a result of your leading an extremely busy life.

Ironically your sight will become invisible, to health hazards, which can occur at the prime of your life as a result of you neglecting your health condition pampered with tinsels of materialism.

The self-realisation, of the absurdity of paying obeisance at the temple of Mammon, instead of enjoying simple joys of mutual and everlasting friendship, listening to the chords of music, paying in harmony to the rapturous applause of the appreciative audience, or else reading creative writing such as collections of poems, short stories, novels and drama, or informative articles on varying subjects which can be categorised as non-fiction.

It is true, with the age of retirement, you become your own boss, without any competitors to vie for your position. Thus you can develop your mental and physical faculties, to the utmost during your prolonged spare time.

Unlike performing your official duties in an office, where team - play is encouraged, in attaining set goals, in which undoubtedly you are bound to make a lot of acquaintances, the retired life offers you wide scope to develop genuine and sincere friendship which will be mutually beneficial to both parties.

Then there are other luxuries, such as travelling either domestic or foreign, satiating your taste buds and in the meantime enhancing your mental perception. Unlike in the days of bounden duties and rigours of monotonous employment you are free to spend your time leisurely enjoying every minute, engaging in a profitable pursuit, which will naturally broaden your mental faculties to a peak condition.

Therefore, the age of retirement, itself offers one with myriad of hitherto unknown and unexplored opportunities. It will certainly galvanise you with a new dynamism beaming with youthful exuberance. Apart from engaging in a galaxy of hobbies, you can have fun with yourself. If you are a person of a daring type, by uttering four-letter words at strangers, as far as you can make sure that it is not loud enough for them to hear your seemingly innocent pranks.

This exercise, I practised with gusto, during my youthful days in exile. Uttering obscenities at total strangers became an enjoyable habit or rather an obsession which never endangered me with bodily harm.

However, these utterances can cause you peril, if you do not practise common sense and try to get away without subjecting yourself to a heavy thrashing, which may cause you an unprecedented degree of bodily harm. To sum up, the age of retirement should be regarded as a very exciting prospect of adventure, like a child blithely flying a multi-coloured kite in the azure sky.

If by any chance, if you happen to be a writer, you will surely get ample time to pursue your goals, such as writing poems with rhyme and rhythm, so that you will certainly feel that you can revolve round and round in a merry-go-round, vanquishing the negative feelings of dismay and despair to oblivion. To that end the age of retirement remains a blessing in a disguise, spreading and propagating with springtime laughter the fountain of infinite and sheer joy of well-earned long lasting restful period of freedom.