I haven't posted for the past few days because I have been busy up-dating the content of my website that provides resources for people on life's journey ...especially people in transition and people exploring the 'retirement' conversation. Those who know me at all well will attest to the fact that when I take on a task like that I become very single minded. But here I am back, with new ideas flowing through me as a result of that experience.

As I annotated various books that I've read, websites, blogs and podcasts that I've discovered I realized that work continues to be the crucible within which so many of us find meaning in our later years. But that the nature of work changes for us substantially. As we age we are less and less willing to work at things that bring us no satisfaction or joy. We are also less and less willing to work in conditions where we are not respected as the contributing adults that we are. And we are more demanding in terms of hours that suit us, customers we can relate to and a pace that suits us.

Is it any wonder then that I came across so many people who start their own business as they retire from life-long careers. Many of our large, corporate employers continue to engage HR policies and practices that older workers find unacceptable or offensive. And the day is quickly coming, I believe, when they will pay the price for their antiquated approaches. But that feels like another conversation.

What I want to talk about today are the many interesting businesses I've come across that reflect today's new 'retirement' reality (gotta find a new term!). There is one business in my local community that I've been watching for some time. Who'da thought that a retired civil servant would have the vision and the moxy to create a highly successful, high end mail order business and medical supply company as his second and third careers? But that is exactly what Leonard Lee of Ottawa's Lee Valley Tools has done. You can Google his name to get the full story, but this man has created a business in his retirement that has set a new standard for providing not only quality supplies to the home woodworker and diy geek but that has placed customer service and satisfaction at the forefront of its business model. And after spending years developing that success, Leonard discovered that one of his customers was a surgeon who had found that some of his woodworking scalpels was more effective than those he could buy within the medical supply community. And now Leonard is off on his third career of developing high quality surgical products for the medical community. I believe that Leonard is now well into his 70's and is going strong. He's definitely been an inspiration to me!

Another person who has inspired me for some time is a guy named Alex. So far he's been my oldest coaching client. We worked together over 5 years ago and he was 77 at that time. He was moving back to Canada after years out of the country and was looking for coaching on how to successfully market himself within this marketplace. ...I kept thinking as I worked with him that he was the model for who I wanted to become as I aged!

My friend and client Cathy lives on the East coast and at 65 has an active coaching/workshop practice working with women in corporate environments around the topic of women's leadership. Feisty and opinionated, Cathy has created a very interesting working model. She coaches and leads workshops from September to May and then works with her son in his landscaping business each summer. Her keen interest in people and gardening is fed and nourished through this non-traditional approach to operating her business.

Another friend and client in Eastern Canada is Pat who is also 65 and has an active coaching and counselling practice. She works on behalf of children and is often called upon by the courts to represent children's interests in ugly contested divorce situations where children are caught in the middle of battling parents.

Carole is another East coast client and friend who left a tenured academic position at a prestigious university to become an innkeeper. As she approaches 60, Carole is aware that her inn is much more than a travel destination for her. It is a place where people can grow and evolve and she is constantly seeking out ways in which to offer services to her global clients base that will invite them to claim more of their potential as human beings.

These thumbnail sketches only talk about folks I have personal experience of. If you go to my website at www.ouicoach.com you'll discover many others that I've come across in my search and whom I haven't met personally.

None of these people are 'slowing down' in the traditional sense. Most of us work long hours at work that demands much of us. And yet we are enlivened and stimulated by that work because it is based in something that fulfills us and provides deep meaning to our lives. I don't know of any of these people who do what they do for the money, although most of them make a darned fine living as a result of their efforts. They do what they do because it is an expression of the essence of who they are in this world. To not do it would be unthinkable because it would be a denial of who they are and can become.

As you explore the retirement question, I'm curious about what you know about the essence of yourself and how that essence will find fulfillment and expression? For me, one of the most exciting things that awaits many people who have been wage slaves all their lives is that 'retirement' may well be the sound of a door opening on the most rewarding, fullfilling and uplifting period of their lives. ...c - r - e - e - e - a - k!!