When retirement means celebrating days of jubilation
Published on
20 Nov 2022
Published by
The Straits Times
How we see seniors in our midst shapes how we think of ourselves. Words matter, and that’s why I’m ‘le ling’ and ‘warga emas’.
Chung Yin Wah
“We are LKKs. You know, lau kok kok,” said one of the people at our post-exercise breakfast. Hokkien for “old and stiff”, and apparently now an acronym to boot, the term raised the hackles of fellow seniors around the table, and a spirited discussion ensued about us being seniors and not LKKs.
Words matter. They can uplift, inspire and empower, or demean, stigmatise and limit. Words can impact perspectives and influence how we think of ourselves. Think of the phrase “silver tsunami”. Do images of rampant destruction and doom come to mind, not just for seniors as we grow older, but also of seniors as a burden to society?
No doubt the ageing demographics are real: The Action Plan for Successful Ageing, which “charts the way forward for Singaporeans to age more confidently and gracefully”, tells us that by 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be 65 or older. But thanks to better education and healthcare, longer participation in work, and sustained healthier living and active ageing plans, this segment of society has built up better health and personal financial resources.
Concepts such as the “longevity dividend” and “longevity economy” are now helping us think about older persons also as a market segment to cater to, and a force to consider for work and economy.
New-age words
See how the use of active ageing in policy and practice has helped counter the narrative of decline, and shift our concepts of ourselves as seniors.
The effects and impact of the years cannot and should not be denied, and with the many national active ageing programmes, such as health workshops and social activities to increase engagement, seniors now have many avenues to stay engaged in society. For instance, the National Silver Academy offers seniors more than 1,000 courses in a range of areas, including art, wellness and life skills, to support those aged 50 and above in pursuing lifelong learning.
A recent conversation with the anthropologist and president of the Gerontological Society of Singapore, Associate Professor Thang Leng Leng, gave me further insights into nuanced concepts like purposeful ageing and productive ageing. New-age words like “conscious ageing” or “conscious maturing” may seem affected, but carry profound messages of insight and intention, as do the ideas of mindful ageing and graceful ageing.
New words for older persons are suggested now and then, such as the “new old”, “new elders” and “sojourners”. As seniors are not a homogenous group, terms such as “young-old”, “middle-old” and “old-old” crop up in the evolving vocabulary.
In Singapore, the word “elderlies” seems to be well accepted for people in their later senior years. I like especially our local words “le ling” (“happy age” in Mandarin) and “warga emas” (“member” and “gold” in Malay), which to me are both uplifting and aspirational.
What about other emergent words such as “granfluencers” and “greynaissance”? Much as I like how the former celebrates seniors who venture into areas blazed by the younger set, the latter speaks to me more. It harks back to the Renaissance, from the French word for rebirth, marking a period in Europe of increased interest and activity in art, literature and ideas during the 15th and 16th centuries. It evokes revival, positivity, and an invitation to continued growth and discovery. What an empowering way to think of seniorhood.
Retiring a notion
Words matter. Think of retirement. Some sources trace its etymology to the French “retirer” (“to withdraw”), conjuring retreat, removal, a reduction; it may imply a withdrawal from life and not just from full-time work, which is what retirement is.
Retirement can be joyful and fulfilling. While preparing for mine in 2019 at the age of 62, I realised that, in addition to financial adequacy, maintaining optimal health, developing a new sense of purpose, and cultivating social connections are critical for a happy retirement too. In Singapore, we have many opportunities and resources that support these.
Having learnt so much from my experience, I decided to put it all in a book in 2021 as a guide to others in Singapore who are also seeking to retire happy.
In a 2018 survey conducted in the United States by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, 999 people across age and social groups were probed for words associated with “Life after full-time work”. The researchers carefully avoided using the word “retirement”. The study found that half the respondents listed the same top 10 words, namely: relax, happy, travel, retirement, family, fun, success, freedom, money and fulfilled.
The polls I have done with Singapore residents at my book talks echo this generally positive association, although, understandably, concerns about financial adequacy and “having enough to do” stand out too. Retirement definitely need not mean a withdrawal from life.
Various people have thus tried to come up with more vibrant and positive words for retirement, for example “rewirement”, “re-fire-up” and being a “never-tiree”.
Other alternatives include “retirements”, in the plural form, in line with the idea of a multi-stage life of interspersed periods for work, self and family, as lifespans increase and society changes, rather than the linear three-stage life of education-work-retirement of our more conventional times. Or “arrivement”, signalling the start of a period of new development and growth.
I feel that the word “retirement” is too well entrenched to be replaced. We should rather associate it with the dynamism and possibility that it can portend, especially in a society like Singapore, where myriad programmes are in place for us to continue cultivating our sense of purpose.
The key is preparing for and finding our new purpose(s) in retirement, which may be in family and causes, travel and hobbies, as well as in work, learning and volunteering.
Nevertheless, one word that immediately resonated with me is “jubilacion”, the Spanish word for retirement (retiree: jubilado/jubilada). I love the word because of its sense of celebration of a professional life of work accomplished, and/or of an adulthood spent taking care of things important to us, and what lies ahead. What a nice ring the word has. Retirement as jubilation.
Let’s live our days of jubilacion with a sense of joy of the life we’ve had and the life still ahead.
• Chung Yin Wah is a former educator and author of the book Retire Happpy! Finding Joy And Fulfilment In Retirement.
• We welcome contributions to the Sunday Views column. Write to us at stopinion@sph.com.sg
Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.
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