Who am I when my working life comes to an end?
Society has conditioned us to tie our identity to our job title. Retirement forced me to confront that – and learn what it’s like to be a beginner again.
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When the writer’s life as a full-time corporate worker came to an end, it made him question who he was without that identity.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Sonny Santos
During a dinner party three months into my retirement, someone asked me what most people ask when they meet someone new: “So, what do you do?”
I wanted to tell them that I had tyre rotation at 11.30am, then a four-hour refrigerator delivery window, and a reminder to myself to “buy cabinet legs, 9cm”. Instead, I mumbled something about “exploring new directions”, then escaped to refill my drink.
