A friend of mine deplores the term retirement. Her thinking is that retirement is pretty much the equivalent of brain death. I agree.

I came across an interesting article this morning. The author begins by pondering the notion of retirement:

“Have you ever looked up the word “retirement” in the dictionary? Except for ads for retirement homes, the word definitely has negative connotations. Synonyms are: withdraw, resign, regress, recede, abdicate, depart, and on and on. There is no synonym to indicate anything upbeat or forward-thinking or optimistic.”

“In light of the profound social changes and medical advances that have taken place in American society, why has it taken so long for us to challenge the meaning of the word retirement, a period in life which now amounts to almost one-fourth of our potential lifetime? I asked people all over the country to come up with a substitute word for retirement, a single, acceptable, positive word to describe this segment of our lives. I found one that, for my present purposes, fills the need: The word is REDIRECT. Think about it: Isn’t redirection what most of us actually focus on when we leave the work force or change our style of living after some 60 years? “

Neuroanatomist Marian Diamond takes on the notion of retirement and the successful aging of the brain.