Friday, July 28, 2017

Coping With Retirement Transition: Life After Sport

By Stephen Snyder


Retirement before 40 or even 30 years of age is a dream for many but a harsh reality for most athletes. The body and mind can only go so far in a sporting career and once over, the athlete is faced with a new challenge. What to do now? Following are some insights vital on Coping with retirement transition that will help you slow down and manage the shock and eased schedule.

The reason for retirement can be a natural end to a long and gratifying career. It may be premature with the athlete forced out through injury, de-selection or financial reasons. Whatever the reason, there is a transition the athlete needs to go through to adjust to a new way of life. It took me three times to finally retire from the sport.

There are two types of retirement for sports people. One of these is the normal and unavoidable end of your lengthy and rewarding profession. This means that you take the fame and honor you achieved during your stay in the business. This is also where self-respect comes in. The other type always tends to be very untimely. Monetary constraints, injuries, or casting away may be the reason of untimely retirements. These are things that a sports person like you has no hand. This type is always unplanned.

Self-esteem issues can contribute to the difficulties faced. A sporting career produces many regular rewards and feedback that are not found in everyday non-sporting life. Many of them miss on the everyday commitment, improving on things and the constant reminder creating this positive driving force that they were accustomed to.

You should start being retired well before the retirement party starts. This is something a lot of us have done over the past two years. The worst thing you can do is wake up on the first day of your retired life with nothing to do. It's natural for a feeling of emptiness and loneliness to set in because you miss going to work. Difficult situations to be in if you have made no plans for filling the hours and days that lay ahead when you become a retired person.

Whether or not the retirement is planned or unplanned, family and friends should give their full understanding and love to overcome its agony. Athletes or not, people naturally have hard times coping with such a transition period.

Retiring because of injury creates more issues to deal with and prolongs the process. Many may persist in looking back to the past, and thinking of opportunities. Missing out on selection in a major team can also create problems. Some athletes may delay retirement in this case in order to fulfill dreams, but instead leading to further heartache.

Support is essential in moving forward. This support may come from family and friends, or it may come from professional help -counseling, career guidance or even a coach. Athletes are used to having coaches in their sport so why not continue to have a coach in life to help keep them on track, motivated and working towards new goals.




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