One of the aspects of settling into retirement nobody warns you about is how your dreams will change, and by dreams, I don’t mean your aspirations but the kind you have while sleeping.
Recently, a man I know who retired around the same time I did told me his version of a by-now familiar story:
“It took two years before my work dreams stopped. You know, the kind where you go to the office but can’t find your way in, so you press up against the window, looking in at everybody.
“But nobody comes to let you in. It was a big relief when those dreams finally stopped.”
This man, like me, had devoted a long career to journalism, which is how we became acquainted some years back. (Neither of us can recall when or how.)
My own work dreams have not entirely disappeared yet, but at least they have diminished in frequency and intensity.
I suppose this makes sense. Most of us spend such a huge portion of our lives in our workplaces that much of the stuff we learn to live with happens there. It’s the main way we meet people, for example, for better and for worse. The worse part may explain why so many of those work dreams we have are much more like nightmares.
These days, seeing younger colleagues who are still employed is a great reminder for me of what I hated most about work and don’t miss — the politics, the pressure, the unkindnesses that were visited upon most of us at least occasionally. But it is also a reminder that I can let all of that go now.
After all, once you retire you are free, no longer accountable to the people and systems that on occasion trapped you in place due to the need for a paycheck. Maybe our brains keep reliving those times afterward as part of the process of helping us get over it.
Eventually, according to guy I spoke with and all of my other retired friends, it all fades away, for both the better and the worse.
LINKS:
Palestinians in occupied West Bank say Israel bombing "innocent people" in raid on Jenin refugee camp (CBS)
Yellen Heads to China This Week Advancing US Bid to Fix Ties (Bloomberg)
Amazon Indigenous are leaving the rainforest for cities, and finding urban poverty (AP)
3 dead, 8 injured after shooting in Fort Worth, Texas parking lot (CBS)
Poppy production almost disappears from Afghanistan’s Helmand province (Financial Times)
DeSantis' presidential campaign is under fire for an ad described as homophobic (NPR)
Biden announces new plan for student loan forgiveness after Supreme Court rejects his first try (CBS)
VIDEO: L.A. Hotel Workers Begin Strike (Reuters)
Here’s Why Google DeepMind’s Gemini Algorithm Could Be Next-Level AI (Singularity Hub)
Generative AI will disrupt blockchain too: Here’s how (Cointelegraph)
China Isn’t Losing Sleep Over ChatGPT (The Diplomat)
The future is disabled (MIT Technology Review)
Twitter's apps are breaking following Elon Musk's decision to cap tweet rates (Engadget)
Robot takes podium as orchestra conductor in South Korea (CNN)
Gen Z are the most disgruntled workers and that's a problem for employers (Yahoo)
In the U.S., the world’s deadliest animal is on the move (WP)
Area Man Somehow Endures Harrowing Entertainment-Free Commute (The Onion)
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