Over the last two months I have found myself dealing with a totally new experience. Having another "milestone" birthday and getting ready to retire have put me into something of a tailspin I did not expect. Until the possibility of retirement was close at hand, it had seemed like a utopian state that I could only dream about. Suddenly, as I began the official process, I was beset with feelings that were quite the opposite of the jubilation I expected. So, what has been going on here?
Life presents us with many opportunities to grow. Our culture in popular psychology has generally focused more on those that naturally arise in earlier stages of life. When I studied developmental psychology, the focus was on the development of children through adolescence and into early adulthood. The knowledge I gained was certainly appropriate and useful for my career as a teacher. But where the formal educational process fails us with regard to psychology is in preparing us for the rest of life after we achieve those developmental phases of through early adulthood. This is where Jungian psychology is different and where it makes its greatest contribution.
The great gift Jung gave us is a perspective of looking at all of life as a part of the process of individuation. Life is a continuing journey into self and self-expression. Jung focused much of his work on the process at mid-life, but by his example, he showed us that we do not stop even when we have worked through our midlife crises. Actually, for many, that is just the start of the real journey toward individuation. It certainly was for me.
But now, even the midlife crisis and years along the path toward finding what I consider "the real me" are behind me - not that I am finished, by any stroke of the imagination. And those birthdays that mark the beginning of a new decade in life tend to have a startling effect on me. I am jolted into the realization that I am moving into the last third of life. As I retire from a profession I've spent almost four decades in, I am faced with a restructuring of my life and thinking in many respects. It is almost innate to me to see the world through the lens of "how might I use this in the classroom." How will I handle my experience if I remove that perspective?
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Bonnie McCarson's Jungian Psychology topic, please visit the Discussions page.