Redefining Retirement: Dance, Masculinity & What Really Matters - episode 269
What will the next chapter look like? Join us as Mike Pittman reflects on retiring after decades of work, his dreams of mastering dance, and navigating the complexities of masculinity. From breakfast adventures in Great Britain to profound insights on happiness and societal expectations, Mike shares his journey with honesty and humor. Discover what moves him, what makes a man, and the wisdom he imparts to the next generation. Don't miss this heartfelt conversation on life, dreams, and finding fulfillment. Mike is our guest this week for the series It’s Raining Men - What do they really think?
Mike has been on the podcast before in A Belief it’s Going to Work and You are Sharing Their Load.
He is on Instagram at Tall Bald Mike Photography.
There's that little bit of excitement. It's like a cross between fear and elation. It's not a terrifying thing, but I don't know what to expect.
— Mike Pittman, thoughts on retirement
Beyond Retirement: Inspiring the Reach
Thoughts from Redefining Retirement
What will retirement look like? Some of us are there and some of us are not. Either way, it’s something to consider. Me? My career as the director of a children’s youth theater program, came to an end a few months before the transition I had scheduled. Thank you, Covid. Schools shut down, so no more performances. I had planned to gracefully exit in the summer after our national conference but the virus had other plans.
What were my plans? Well, as many of you know, I think of hitting age sixty as the beginning of your third act. (Zero-thirty is act one, thirty to sixty is act two, and sixty on up is the start of act three.) What else did I want to do? What was the spark that wouldn’t leave me alone? Well, it was wanting to inspire others to be all that God created them to be. That’s the short answer.
The longer one is still in the making. The podcast was started because, why not? I wanted to have interesting conversations with people, playfully and thoughtfully. So the Get-to-Know-You segment, followed by the Deep-Dive segment were born. Eventually there were series on various topics: passion, purpose, grief, gratitude, mental health, writing, pivoting, getting to know yourself better, etc. and after five years, I am ready to pivot. More on that to come.
The book (Standing Tall: A Collection of Hope) was relaunched after twenty years into a bonafide, published entity. One of my passions is gifts after loss or how God works things for good. I’ve seen it in my own life and I know it to be a promise that will be fulfilled each and every time you go through the hard thing, the painful thing you never thought you would get beyond. I get to be one of the speakers at an upcoming women’s retreat, talking about this very thing: God was there, and now he restores, even if it’s not in the way we asked for.
I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of groups I’ve been asked to join or have co-created with others: prayer group, Soul Sisters, Mini-Mastermind, and a few others that are informal. These women rock my world, speak life into me, and are my ride-or-die. They spur me on every chance they get. And I do the same for them. If you don’t have that, I can’t implore you enough to start your own. Make it happen. You will be so glad you took that first step.
I’ve wanted to speak with midlife (code for “older”) women of faith in particular because I am one of them. I think I’ve figured out a few things that I want to share. Audacious? Maybe. Unabashed? You betcha. In the past five years, God has been growing me into this. He’s given me the passion, and now he is leading me to its fuller purpose. Each step has brought me closer to, what exactly? Still fine-tuning that.
Retirement for me will be what it is right now. I don’t work for a company or for an individual. I am not getting a paycheck. All these things I describe here I do because I love doing them. They are not monetized, and in fact they cost money. They are not a hobby, they are a way of life, and I will continue to pursue them until the fire is gone. Honestly I imagine that will only be when I take my last breath.
So, I’m ready to be used. I’m ready to inspire. I’m ready to be stretched. I’m ready to evolve, to grow, to listen and to learn from others. I refuse to remain stagnant and tight in the bud. I want to blossom. Remember the quote that God used to take my spark to the next level?
Then the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud,
Was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
— Anais Nin
If you knew today was your last day, would you be satisfied? Or is there more that you want to do, more that you want to be? It’s never too late, and late is coming. If I can come alongside and spur you on, help you discover and reach your goals, I would be most honored. Simply say yes, and I’ll get you going. You don’t want to wish you had, feel you settled, or live with regret. Take the risk, take the step. As I say so often to my daughter, You can do hard things. So can you.
Flowers are at their most beautiful when they reach to their fullness.
— A beautiful bouquet, Charleston South Carolina
