Yesterday I had lunch with a friend in his seventies. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time, so there was plenty to catch up on. At one point he mentioned that retirement wasn’t in the cards for him.

It wasn’t about financial necessity. His business is successful, his future secure. He continues because he wants to — because working gives him energy, direction, and purpose.

A couple days ago, I decided to reread Norman Vincent Peale’s The Positive Principle Today. I underlined the following paragraphs. Peale was chatting with a recently retired company president. He had confided in Peale sharing that he was on a plateau in his life and saw no excitement or even usefulness. This is what Peale said to him:

“It is wise to play down that word “retirement” and to emphasize instead the word and concept “readjustment.” Retirement somewhat suggests a drop-out status…a finished state. Readjustment, on the other hand, indicates continuity of activity, though in different capacity and perhaps in entirely new form.”

He then shared what an old Korean man told him about what happens in Korea.

“In my country, people think of beginning a new and different life at sixty years; they assume a new birth, gearing themselves for new activity.”

“I became a resurrected person at sixty,” the man said,
“and have been living as a new man ever since.”

Peale drew a sharp line between two words: retirement and readjustment.

• Retirement implies dropout, an ending.
• Readjustment implies continuity — a fresh rhythm, a new form of activity, the next unfolding of purpose.

The Sociology of Retirement

Interestingly, sociology backs this up. Rob Pascale, writing in Forbes on the “Life Course Perspective,” described retirement as a disruption of a person’s career trajectory — one of the most dominant structures in a life.

From this perspective, how well a person adjusts depends on all the elements of their life: their past experiences, health, finances, relationships, personality, even cultural expectations. Retirement isn’t just the end of a job — it’s the interruption of a path.

If the transition is planned, it can feel like a voluntary shift into new trajectories — volunteering, mentoring, creative work, family roles. That’s readjustment. But if it’s forced or premature, the loss of structure can feel jarring — even destabilizing. The daily patterns that gave life shape vanish, and replacements don’t feel “enough.”

Pascale calls this the “roller coaster” of retirement: the initial lift of freedom, followed by the dip of disorientation, then a gradual recovery as new pathways form.

Why Readjustment Matters More

That’s why reframing matters. Retirement as an “end” sets us up for loss. Retirement as readjustment keeps us alive to continuity.

Consider today’s examples:

• Vera Wang entered fashion at 40 and continues to reinvent decades later.
• Martha Stewart, at 81, graced the cover of Sports Illustrated — not because she had to, but because she still could.
• Stan Lee was creating stories and appearing in films into his nineties.
• Countless entrepreneurs start ventures in their sixties, not to climb, but to keep contributing.

Different time? Maybe. But the principle hasn’t changed. Human beings thrive when we have ongoing trajectories — paths that give us structure, responsibility, and meaning.

The Alignment Lens

Within the Hudson Alignment Framework™, I often say: your Zone of Genius doesn’t retire. It evolves.

• Purpose is renewable.
• Structure can be redesigned.
• Contribution takes new forms.

The transition isn’t about stopping. It’s about shifting…and bout asking:

What new trajectory do I want to align with now?

That question transforms the idea of retirement from an ending into a re-entry — the next version of your genius at work.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

If you removed the word retirement from your vocabulary, how would you describe your next trajectory — your next readjustment?

About Giselle

Giselle Hudson is a writer, possibility thinker, speaker, Strategic Alignment Facilitator™, and MCODE Legacy Coach. She helps solo professionals, non and for profit organizations identify where focus and learning need to occur to stay aligned and achieve real results — all beginning with The One Question Every Business Must Answer™.