Retirement is now firmly on my mind. It certainly wasn’t there a couple of years ago but as more of my friends and peers embrace it I am thinking ‘when’ not ‘if’.

I have been working for nearly 42 years minus a few months out for maternity leave and more recently sick leave. And I am fortunate to be able to say that I have loved it. And I still love it but there are other things in my life that I have become passionate about which I want to devote more time to.

So I have sent off for a pension prediction if I retire on my 62nd birthday. If it comes back in line with my estimations then my planning starts now. But I will be keeping all things crossed that Brexit does not scupper those plans.

It does feel odd thinking about retirement. Work has been such a huge part of my life. It has not just been about paying the bills. It has defined me. And I think I have been quite successful at it. Hopefully I will leave a legacy to hand on to my successor.

But where have those 42 years disappeared to? It doesn’t seem so long ago that I donned my uniform on the first day of nurse training back in 1977. Three weeks after the death of Elvis Presley. Way Down was number one in the charts.

I walked pass the park bench a couple of days ago where I sat at the age of 25 after being promoted to a midwifery sister. For years it has been about working hard, doing my best and hoping that someone appreciated it. And now it will soon (fingers crossed) be coming to an end.

Not that I intend to stop working. But I want more flexibility in my life. I want to be self employed. I want to stop getting up at 5am. I want to do something different.

I want to make use of my Personal Trainer qualification focusing on the older adult. I want to set up a Professional Coaching business. How I balance these two passions I don’t yet know which is where the retirement planning comes in.

I’m fortunate that I work for an employer that has offered me a preparation for retirement course. It is not just about the finances. Although I’m very conscious that as a baby boomer I have a half decent pension. The next generation will not be as fortunate. It is about preparing for what could be the next thirty years. And believe me after my own health scare and the death of my best friend I’m going to do my very best to make my life fulfilling and fun.

I bought the plaque featured in my cover photo last weekend. I was in Centre Parcs with nine friends. We have been getting together for a annual weekend catch up for fifteen years. Some have now retired, others are thinking about it and one or two are either too young or not at the contemplative stage. When I saw the plaque someone said ‘you shouldn’t wish your life away’. And, of course, they are right. But this is about planning the next stage of my life. And in the meantime I continue to embrace everything that is good about the here and now.