When – about 14 years ago – it was my turn, I looked forward to retirement: endless sleep-ins, zero airport security lines for lectures at distant places, no more struggling to keep awake at boring meeting, and a calendar so beautifully blank it belongs in a modern art museum. I looked forward to the complete absence of so-called peers – mostly people who had no idea about my research – criticising or trying to influence my work. And even more I rejoiced in the prospect of having no university administrators needlessly complicating my life, while taking a big chunk of my research funding for the benefit.
When you retire as an academic, you genuinely believe you’ve escaped the university rat race – only to soon realize you’ve just been traded to a different league with much worse perks. Suddenly, your mornings are dictated not by an alarm clock, but by a relentless, self-imposed to-do list. You’re busier than ever, while operating alone and on a budget that makes your old expense-account days feel like the reign of Louis XIV.
Of course, not all academics keep on working after retirement. Some manage to just drop everything from one day to the next thinking they will now look after the garden, trimm roses, walk the dog, etc. I know many who have chosen this type of approach to retirement. For a few months, it all seems to go fine. Then they realise the increaingly painful emptiness and lack of purpose. More often than not, a low mood creeps in, followed by depression and/or taking to the bottle (perhaps this is why the Exeter medical school gave me a set of huge [and apparently expensive] wine glasses as a leaving present?).
No, staying active and doing what one likes must be the secret of remaining sane after retirement – at least for me. So, I rolled up my sleeves and got on with it. I started this blog (thanks Alan) where I have now published well over 3000 posts. I also began writing colums for newspapers – in English, German and French, to make it a bit more interesting. And then I got into books; this turned out to be more fun (and far less money) than expected. Since retiring I so far managed an average of about one per year – 16 to be precise, and currently three more in the pipeline.
Yes, I do keep myself busy, but this approach does unquestionably have its surprises. The real shocker, is the devastating loss of infrastructure. Yesterday you were a visionary leader; today, you are your own secretary, IT department, mailroom clerk, travel agent, and administrative assistant – and frankly, your staff is frightfully incompetent! There is nobody to filter out annoying requests, meaning you are fully exposed to every crank on the planet. Your former co-workers no longer do the knuckle work of the research, so things get slower and slower. Technical assistance is nowhere to be found; when the printer jams or the Wi-Fi malfunctions, you are on your utterly incompetent own. Every little task takes hours or days. You’ve traded business casual for sweatpants or shorts, but the “hassle” didn’t disappear; if anything, it becomes bigger and bigger. It just rebranded itself as a full-time, unpaid internship where you are both the demanding boss and the disgruntled employee.
But am I not supposed to enjoy life during retirement?
I promise you, I do that too!
Some friends keep asking me whether I don’t want to finally retire for real, relax and be happy.
“What do you mean?”, I respond.
“Well, you know, do what you really like.”
“But that’s what I am doing!”
It is true – honestly.
I am productive because I am content – and not the other way round.
8 Responses to Retirement?
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I can certainly empathise. I’m not really an academic, although I have published a handful of papers in retirement so I suppose I’m a late developer! One of my best friends says that in retirement you’re just as busy, the only difference is that you don’t get paid for what you do. I really admire your focus and dedication. I am more of a generalist, and like variety and different challenges. One of those is to learn German, but after 10 years of trying I still can’t see the point of separable verbs. I do enjoy learning new skills. My other passions of choral music and classic car ownership provide an unending supply.
I have not forgotten Edzard that it was that dinner with you at the Royal Society of Medicine about 20 years ago that got me into campaigning for evidence based health care. What fun we have had since then!
Yes, lots of fun – and occasionally even a little impact.
Professor Ernst
I enjoyed your reflections on retirement — especially the shock of discovering how much invisible infrastructure a university quietly provides. For those of us who have spent our working lives outside institutions, the contrast is striking.
I’ve been self‑employed for 40 decades: first as an Osteopath, later in Western medical acupuncture. No secretaries, no IT department, no administrators to shield me from the world — just the public, their needs, and the responsibility to meet them. Along the way I supported a wife, paid my taxes, carried a mortgage, and raised two daughters into adulthood. The work had to stand on its own merits because there was nothing else holding it up.
And now, in my own semi‑retirement, I still practise a little — offering pain‑ and inflammation‑modulating treatments with the same unhurried rapport that made the work meaningful in the first place. It’s become a labour of love rather than necessity, which is its own kind of contentment.
So while our professional paths have been very different — and while you’ve often been a spirited critic of the very fields I’ve worked in — I genuinely wish you a happy and fulfilling retirement. May your vocation continue to energise you, just as mine has continued to sustain me.
Regards,
Paul
many thanks – and happy retirement!
😊🙏
“4 dcades.” 😊
I both envy and admire you, Dr. Ernst. I’ve been a fan since we first crossed paths some years ago.
And jst so you know, Doc and Carly are still a thing. They just haven’t gone public yet.
Ron
give them my best wishes!