( As published at The Examiner. )

Beginning August 11, 2010, I began writing as the DC Retirement Living Examiner at The Examiner.  As I wrote in the very first submission, "We're not letting you go: we're letting you go":

Retirement, once a glimpse into your future, is suddenly staring you in the face. And whether the powers that be say those words or the unspoken ones of "you're out of here" -- it can feel really, really awful. For me, it reminded me of the time a doctor was trying to tell me that my father had passed away. I could see his mouth moving and I knew he was saying something ... but try as I might, I couldn't seem to "comprehend" it all.

My goal in this column was to examine retirement in all its guises.

• We're not letting you go; we're letting you go

They might not say those words, exactly. "We're letting you go." They might couch them in some nice language; something like "we're offering you early retirement" or "don't consider this being fired ... [more]

• Retirement: le petit morte (the little death)

I speak only enough French to know that La Petite Mort translates as the little death -- and I'm pretty darn sure they're referring to retirement. I mean, when you think about it, what else could they be talking about ... falling in ... [more]

• The Seven Stages of Retirement

1. The first stage of retirement: shock

It takes a while to process the words -- from the second you hear the Human Resources Professional telling you that you've been fired, discharged, put out to pasture, or offered retirement -- until the time you actually accept the fact
that ... [more]

2. The second stage of retirement: denial

After being given the news that you're about to enter the glorious, golden years of superannuation, it takes a moment (or less) before your senses begin to return. That washed-out, empty feeling dissipates and the blood begins to... [more]

3. The third stage of retirement: guilt

Once the reality of your non-employed lot in life begins to settle into your core being, tendrils of guilt may set in. This is a fairly common occurrence and should be simultaneously honored and taken with a grain of salt. We never... [more]

4. The fourth stage of retirement: fear

Fear, according to Neale Donald Walsch (author of Conversations with God), "is an acronym in the English language for 'False Evidence Appearing Real'". And the tricky thing about real-appearing falsehoods is that they're ... [more]

5. The fifth stage of retirement: anger

Being one of the lucky ones, by the time I was offered Retirement Life, I already had several decades of therapy and personal development (self and otherwise) under my belt. I could still recall someone in group therapy years before accusing me of ... [more]

6. The sixth stage of retirement: depression

OK, I have to admit that I think I got bogged down in this sixth stage without even knowing it. Or perhaps I was hovering or stuck between Stages 5 and 6; not sure. I am sure that since the last article (The fifth stage of retirement: ... [more]

7. The seventh stage of retirement: acceptance

After you find yourself retired from your job and after the feelings of shock, denial, guilt, fear, anger, and depression move through you, a moment of A-ha!-ness is bound to happen. You go to bed the night before feeling remnants of ... [more]

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