re·fire·ment

/rēˈfī(ə)rmənt/ noun the act of reigniting one's passion and purpose in life

It started out as a joke. 

You know, one of those moments where you try to make lemon drop martinis out of some gnarly lemons.

The details of the ‘what’ aren’t important (that is, unless they get litigated, and that shot clock has plenty of time left on it). For the purpose of this tale, all that matters is that the company was great, the food was as perfect as it always is when you need a taste of home, and the laughs were desperately needed. It was the kind of lunch where a social network analyst would struggle to figure out exactly how this group of people actually fit together. In my experience, those friend groups are the absolute best…nothing cookie-cutter about them.

The youngest at the table made a quip about “refirement.” In the context of this conversation, the intention was the intersectionality of retirement and being fired. The ability to flip just about anything into a sarcastic bent is a valued skill set at this particular table.

After lunch, with my curiosity piqued, I Googled the term. Turns out it’s an actual thing, although not in the same context as was discussed at lunch. I found a LinkedIn Pulse post from 2017 that provided a really insightful description of the concept. If you search “refirement” online now, you’ll find Tedx Talks, vlogs, podcasts, books, and numerous companies devoted to the topic. 

Let’s just say I’m really glad I was in the frame of mind to lock up domains and company names at the time. Leaning into entrepreneurial activities when you are really angry turns out to be a productive way to work through some stuff.

That lunch was a year ago today. 

A lot has happened since, some of it not so great (looking at you, literal and figurative stalkers). 

But there have also been so many amazing moments and movements. If there ever was a pivot year, this was it. And as so many friends and colleagues have assured me, I will look back with gratitude for every single part of the journey.

I trust they are right.

One of the most interesting things I’ve done is reading about and learning how to use many new disruptive technology tools. It’s amazing just how far things have come in that realm over the past 365 days.

So, with a few savvy prompts and a distinctly developed tone, here is a little something the bots and I cooked up to explain refirement:

Refirement isn't your typical mid-career crisis. It's a bold, unapologetic middle finger to the outdated notion that you should grind away in a soul-sucking job until you're too old to enjoy life.

Let's cut the bullshit: the traditional career path is dead. It's a relic of a bygone era when people were expected to climb the corporate ladder without question and sacrifice their dreams for people who really didn’t care about them.

Refirement is about having the audacity to reinvent yourself in your prime, to pursue that crazy dream you've been shelving for "someday," to make a dent in the universe when everyone else thinks you should be settling into comfortable mediocrity and fading into the background.

This isn't for the faint-hearted. It's for the rebels, the visionaries, the ones who refuse to be trapped in a gilded cage of success. It's for those who look at their forties and fifties and see not a midlife crisis, but a launchpad for their most audacious ambitions yet.

Refirement is a full-throttle transformation. It's about coming back from a professional intermission with fire in your belly and a clear vision of the mark you want to leave on the world. It's not about stepping back – it's about stepping up and into your true potential.

This isn't a gentle pivot – it's a radical reinvention. And it starts now, in the prime of your life, when you have the experience to know better and the energy to do better.

Welcome to refirement, where your best years aren't behind you – they're just getting started.

December 28, 2024