By Kristin Neff, PhD and Christopher Gerner, PhD
As I’m writing this, in the corporate world the season of performance reviews is getting underway. Each year, I hear from some of my executive coaching clients how common is it that people are harder on themselves than their bosses are.
But you may be wondering: what does this book have to do with retirement? Ask anyone who’s been through the transition to retirement. It’s a big change and cultivating the skill of being kinder to yourself can be very valuable. Maybe it’s time to let go of being harder on yourself.
What makes the transition to retirement challenging? In addition to the joys of retirement that you’ve dreamed about, like having the freedom to do what you want when you want to, there are a number of shocks to the system. Many of them are psychological in nature, including a loss of identity tied to your former profession. Some people experience doubts wondering if they made the right decision to retire. And for many people, there’s a loss of social connection that comes when they move away from the workplace. And often people face a loss of purpose and meaning that came from their work – that can take years to replace.
Co-author Kristin Neff, PhD is a leading researcher on self-compassion. In The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: share practical strategies and tips to tap into the benefits of self-compassion. Many people find it easier to be kinder to others than to themselves. Learning self-compassion can turn your inner critic into an inner ally at a time when you may feel especially vulnerable moving from the world of work to the promising, but uncertain, territory of retirement and later life.
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You can listen to my podcast conversation with Dr. Kristin Neff here.
In it, she shares her own experience in recently moving into semi-retirement.
Buy The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook:
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