The early background to my essay ‘Baby boomers: busting the myths’

At the start, back in 2007 this was a project about transitions to retirement. Only later did the focus turn to baby boomers.

The idea and the passion for the project emerged from my own experiences as I moved through my late 50s and early 60s, and from seeing and hearing what was happening in the lives of friends and acquaintances.

While still employed in the workforce I observed colleagues suffering grief and loss at work as the latest restructure cost them their job or moved them to the sidelines. I wondered about the impact of such experiences on well-being and self-confidence as they faced their future.

There were challenges for many of us in giving up paid employment and a work identity and, for some, fears about how to fill the time. What would give our lives meaning?

Friends struggled in demanding full-time positions as their elderly parents fell ill and needed care, support and advocacy as they negotiated complex and often inflexible or unresponsive health and aged care systems.

I reflected on my father’s final decades ending when he was 94, and could see that while his life changed dramatically when he ‘retired’ from his main career, it didn’t stop there or subside into endless days of tranquility and peace. He continued to face challenges in his intellectual life and personal relationships and he continued to live his life to the full.

This led me to wonder about the predicted 1950s and 1960s dream of short working weeks, long holidays and early retirement with endless ‘leisure’ and ‘liberation’. When did that vision of my future disappear and did I care? Do others care?

It became important to me to test my experience, to see if any of these issues resonate with others, are they different for men and women, for different income groups and different kinds of households? Do perspectives change as people move through this period of their lives, into retirement? Are people finding new pathways to fit modern realities? How do they see their lives in relation to the world around them?

Next: the shift in focus to the baby boomers