Retirement Blues

Responding to a reader question from office hours

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Reminder: Paid subscribers can ask anonymous questions in "Office Hours," and I will answer as many as I can.

---

One of my dear readers recently asked this question in Office Hours:

I'm a full professor at an R1 struggling with pre-retirement blues despite taking lots of precautions to avoid them. Very few people outside my family know my timeline for retirement, but one of them is my department chair. I'm increasingly feeling marginalized in my department, and I'm currently watching a degree program I care about deeply undergoing massive trajectory shifts that I do not support. If all this meant I had less service work to do, I could put up with it for the remainder of my academic life, but unfortunately, the service keeps being piled on anyway. I'm going to have to retire to get my research done! I love your advice, Jenn - got any for me? Thank you!

First and foremost, congratulations on nearing this significant milestone! This is a momentous occasion in one's professional life that deserves to be honored!

Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash

I would also imagine that transitioning into retirement could produce all sorts of reflections and emotions. It might be a mixture of relief, excitement, anticipation, and possibly apprehension. Feeling marginalized or disconnected from your department can certainly amplify some of these emotions. I’m sorry to hear that has been your experience.

Disconnection, or the feeling of being marginalized, may also be a defense mechanism. I say this not to dismiss your reality—marginalization in academia is a reality for many people—but to suggest that sometimes humans lean more into this perception because we feel the need to create emotional distance from something we have long cared about in order to leave. When we anticipate a significant change, our subconscious frequently creates emotional buffers. It’s like a way of preparing our hearts and minds for leaving.

Perhaps this is not the case for you, but it would be a typical human reaction to a significant change if it were. I'm just putting this out there in case you or another reader resonates with it.