Critical Care Physicians and Retirement

In the old days, retirement was looked forward to as a period of more time and energy for nonwork activities. But this idea was based on workers toiling at jobs that were only means of making a living. These individuals couldn’t wait for the day they didn’t have to work anymore. The gold watch at age 65, then golf, fishing, travel, enjoyment of lots of life left—the golden years. But that was an illusion, especially for those of us with callings, not just nine-to-five employment. Once the career went away with age, one might find replacements for it or maybe not. There were better-than-even odds that retirement was a halfway house to a funeral parlor—a waiting game.