***Boomers: Are You a Realizer?

For the last few months, we’ve been talking about the transformation from the “Type A” to the “Type R” personality; the “R” standing for “recreative” in the dynamic, formative sense. Our thesis is that modern Americans, upon retirement, have unprecedented opportunities to craft a new “self”. We can construct renovated lives that enable us to plunge into a future we shape for ourselves, full of learning, fulfillment, fun and—profit.

I’m not speaking of remote theoretical possibilities here. I’m talking about the real achievables. This brings me to this month’s discussion topic. “Type R” personalities are “realizers”. A close inspection of this word opens a number of doors that offer productive insights.

Here are the top six definitions of the word “realize”.

* To grasp or understand clearly

* To make real; give reality to;

* To bring vividly to mind;

* To convert into cash or money;

* To obtain as a profit or income for oneself by trade, labor or investment;

* To bring as proceeds, as from a sale.

Let’s take a closer look.

To Grasp or Understand Clearly

We’ve touched on this earlier, so we’ll briefly summarize here. In order to become a “Type R” personality, step one is the realistic self-appraisal. Each of us is a miscellaneous bag of pros and cons. If we are serious about being recreative, we must be shameless about the “pros”. They’re worth holding onto. At the same time, we must be disciplined about the “cons”. We can’t do any major housecleaning without reinforcing the good and minimizing the bad. In short, we have to realize who we are going into the process.

To Make Real, Give Reality To (combined with number 3 above)

Recently, there was a New York Times article about the benefits of daydreaming; it has its place. But the price of admission to the ranks of the “Type R’s” is the commitment to making it real. We don’t just dream about being fit and strong, we work at it. We don’t fantasize about writing our books, we get them in print. We don’t sit passively wishing we could make up for lost time with our loved ones, we get busy mending fences. And we don’t torment ourselves pining over lost opportunities; we enroll in college and get more degrees.

To Convert Into Cash (combined with numbers 5 and 6 above)

There are many ways to “realize” the fruits of our efforts. For some, cash has lost its power to serve as a measure of success. These folks may realize advantages by doing volunteer work for some benevolent concern. They may realize a great satisfaction from becoming fluent in another language. But the “Type R” will be glad to discover that there are surprising possibilities for converting your retirement activities into dollars. There’s a lot to be said for “playing it safe”. But there’s a lot of excitement and fulfillment in embarking on new voyages.

Though I usually groan when someone launches into a “let me tell you about what I did” story, allow me to risk it. Since I retired five years ago, I achieved levels of satisfactio
I never “realized” while I was wearing my “Type A” disguise. Today, I’m deeply involved in fund raising with Pros for Africa, a charitable group that’s doing tremendous work for women and children in war-tor
Gulu, Uganda. Through these activities, I’ve made a number of new friends who aren’t conce
ed with what we can get out of each other, but what good we can do together. And, most important of all, I’ve strengthened my family ties and learned to appreciate what a truly remarkable partner I have in my wife Mary.

Early in my legal career, I was very enthusiastic about the prospects for the future. I would never have believed it was possible to have so much enthusiasm for an unfolding future in retirement. There is, however, room for a word of caution. There will always be those afflicted with an excess of cynicism. They divide the world between those who live in illusion, and those who are disillusioned. There is no room in their world for clean breaks, new starts and late successes. These wounded souls obviously have a right to this opinion, but practice taking it with the grain of proverbial salt.

The origins of the word “realization” are lost in prehistory. Some linguists believe the ancient root for “realization” is related to “riches”. I can buy that.

I’m Hink, and I’ll see ya!