Many people sing the praises of retirement, but for others it is not a day that they look forward to at all. In fact, many people try to delay the day of their retirement because they’re just not ready to step away from a job that they love. They don’t believe all the stories about retirees taking it easy, playing golf all day and having beers with their friends on a regular basis. The reality of retirement is that it can be a very lonely time, especially for first responders who have lived a life of excitement up until the point when they had to retire. For them, retirement can be a very boring existence and, in many cases, first responders cannot handle it by themselves.
If you are forced to take firefighter retirement, it can be one of the worst days of your life. You have spent the last 40 years running into burning buildings, rescuing people and still having time to spend with your family when you finally get home. Now all of that is going to stop, and you are expected to sit back in your armchair and just forget everything that you’ve gone through. That’s easier said than done and it can be a really difficult transition for many people. This is why they have been trying to put off the retirement day for as long as they can and to help you understand that, here are the some of the reasons why they do it.
- They have a job for life – Just imagine finding a job that you love to do and that your employer will guarantee you employment for all of your working life, as long as you don’t do anything major that will negatively affect your career. This is a fantastic peace of mind knowing that you can make future plans about buying a home or planning vacations overseas, and many people love the fact that they know what is planned out for them every day. Now picture the same person being told to retire and to figure out what it is that they want to do with their lives. This is a difficult thing to ask anyone to do.
- It’s hard to walk away – You have spent most of your life running into burning buildings, saving lives and changing people’s future. That is a lot of responsibility to have on anyone’s shoulders and you as a firefighter have been dealing with this for many years now. It is extremely difficult to walk away from a job such as this.
Accepting retirement when you’re not ready for it can be extremely difficult, and so it is important that there is assistance to help you to deal with it effectively.
