“When I retire I am going to finally have time to slow down from the busy pace I have become accustomed to while working. I will sleep in late, relax, and watch the grass grow. It is my time in the sun to do nothing if I so choose.”
For those who have worked a long, hard and physically challenging career rest and relaxation may be just what is needed in retirement. However for those knowledge workers whose work has been more cerebral versus physical, slowing down in retirement may prevent them from experiencing an engaged, active, and exciting second stage in life.
A fulfilling retirement should not be taken for granted. Excitement and satisfaction with living is typically associated with stretching ourselves, becoming better people and 
achieving. Few retirees spending the day at the pool or nearby golf course likely describe their day as exciting. Relaxing yes, exciting not so much.
And think of the waste of talent when skilled, experienced and successful people decide to call it quits or retire early. Lost are dedicated and experienced employees, future mentors, and those most versed in espousing the company culture.
There is nothing wrong with retiring from a long and successful career to begin a search for something new. Second careers and pursuit of passions in retired life are good for each of us and benefit the world around us.
But retiring from life with nothing to look forward to except relaxation and escape is short sited. Mortimer Adler a distinguished author and educator said, “retirement conceived as a protracted vacation is a form of prolonged suicide. It marks the first formal stage on the road to oblivion”.
This weeks blog in US News & World Old Does Not Mean Slow visits a group of octogenarians whose engaged and busy retired lives will make you tired just reading about it.
For them retirement is all about GO rather than slow.
