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Living Intentionally: Choosing Curiosity, Rhythm, and Meaning
2 Plays8 days ago
In this solo episode, Jacquie reflects on insights from her conversation with Dr. Denise Taylor and explores a quieter, more sustainable approach to intentional living in retirement. Instead of asking, “What should I do now?”, Jacquie invites listeners to consider, “How do I want to live now?” The episode focuses on creating rhythm (not busyness), choosing curiosity over striving, and finding meaning that isn’t tied to productivity.
What you’ll hear in this episode
- Why intentional living isn’t always about doing more
- The shift from “What should I do?” to “How do I want to live?”
- How many retirees leave the job—but keep the pace, pressure, and identity of work
- Rhythm vs. routine: listening to your energy instead of living by urgency
- Why stillness can feel uncomfortable (and why it’s often exactly what we need)
- Curiosity as a key driver of well-being as we age
- How “Back in my day…” thinking quietly closes doors—and how to keep them open
- The identity question that can surface after retirement: “If I’m not that anymore… who am I?”
- Why meaning doesn’t require output, metrics, or a new label
- The difference between working longer because it’s joyful vs. working longer as avoidance
Key takeaways
- Intention starts with rhythm, not goals. Your days don’t need to be packed to be purposeful.
- Rhythm is energy-aware living. Notice when you feel alert, when you need rest, and when you’re simply done.
- Curiosity keeps the future open. You don’t have to be good at something to explore it.
- Meaning isn’t the same as productivity. Presence, listening, and care can be deeply meaningful.
- Not every season calls for acceleration. Some seasons call for integration, simplification, and rest.
READY TO RAMP UP YOUR RETIREMENT JOURNEY?
Have a chat with Jacquie: https://calendly.com/jacquiedoucette/discovery
New to Beyond Retirement? Start Here: https://beyondretirement.ca/start-here/
Check out the Beyond Retirement Library: https://placeforbooks.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Challenging Traditional Retirement Views
00:00:03
Speaker
Retirement. That's what we're all aiming at, right? But exactly what does that mean? conjures up visions of endless days of golf, drinks with little umbrellas in them on a tropical beach, feet up reading a book.
00:00:16
Speaker
Is that what it's all about? I don't think so. Life would get pretty dull after a while without anything meaningful to do, don't you think?
Introducing Jackie Doucette and Her Mission
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm Jackie Doucette, and I'm on a mission to discover exactly what life is like beyond retirement.
00:00:30
Speaker
Join me while I chat with people who've already done it, who've retired to something rather than from something. Let's find out together exactly what's waiting for us when we say goodbye to that nine to five.
Supporting Meaningful Retirement Transitions
00:00:51
Speaker
Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of Beyond Retirement. I'm your host, Jackie Doucette. Through Beyond Retirement, I help people retire to something meaningful. Maybe that means more purpose, more routine, more joy.
00:01:06
Speaker
Whatever it might be for you, remember that you don't have to struggle alone in the transition to retirement. let's have a conversation. There's a link to a free call in the show notes.
00:01:18
Speaker
And if you prefer to do some quiet exploration first, I've published a variety of books to help you on your journey. The link to my library is also in the show notes, and both those links are also available on my website, beyondretirement.ca.
00:01:34
Speaker
I look forward to talking with you and to helping make your journey beyond retirement the very best it can be.
Living Intentionally in Retirement
00:01:41
Speaker
And today I'm going to talk a little bit about something that was brought up by Janice Taylor last week during our conversation.
00:01:51
Speaker
If you haven't listened to that episode, I recommend that you go and listen to it because she really had a lot of interesting things to talk about. What I want to talk about today is the idea of living intentionally, choosing curiosity, rhythm, and meaning.
00:02:09
Speaker
When we talk about living intentionally in retirement, most people assume it means doing something meaningful, volunteering, starting a project, launching a second career, staying productive.
00:02:22
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But what if intention isn't about doing more at all? In my conversation with Dr. Taylor, something very different kept surfacing. Again and again, she pointed to a quieter question, not what should I do now, but how do I want to live now?
00:02:41
Speaker
That distinction matters more than we realize. because many people don't actually leave the working world when they retire. They leave the job, but they bring the pace, the pressure, the identity of work with them.
00:02:56
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The striving doesn't stop. It just changes shape.
The Concept of Rhythm in Life
00:03:01
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Living intentionally, as Denise describes it, begins when we step off that treadmill.
00:03:07
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Intention starts with rhythm, not goals. One of the most important ideas that Denise shared was the idea of rhythm, not routines, not schedules, but rhythm.
00:03:21
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Work-life trains us to live by deadlines, calendars, urgency, output. Retirement removes that structure, but it doesn't automatically teach us what to replace it with.
00:03:33
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So many people rush to fill the gap because stillness feels uncomfortable.
00:03:40
Speaker
But rhythm is different from busyness. Rhythm is how your energy moves through the day. Rhythm is knowing when you feel alert, when you need rest, when you're most creative, and when you're simply done.
00:03:55
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Living intentionally means paying attention to that and allowing it to guide your choices instead of fighting it.
Curiosity in Intentional Living
00:04:03
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Denise spoke about spending time in her woods and how stepping into that space immediately shifts her nervous system. She's no longer on call.
00:04:13
Speaker
She's not producing. She's being. That's not withdrawal from life. That's recalibration. And it's something that many retirees never give themselves permission to do.
00:04:28
Speaker
Curiosity replaces striving. Another pillar of intentional living is curiosity, and this is where people often misunderstand it. Curiosity isn't about chasing novelty or staying busy.
00:04:42
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It's about remaining open. Curious people ask, what actually interests me now? What energizes me? Not what impresses others.
00:04:54
Speaker
What feels worth exploring, even if I'm not good at it? Denise shared research showing curiosity is strongly linked to well-being as we age.
00:05:05
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And intuitively, that makes sense. Curious people stay engaged with life as it is, not as it used to be. Contrast that a little bit with what happens when curiosity fades.
00:05:19
Speaker
Then we hear phrases like, back in my day, or that's not for people my age. Or even, i guess I missed my chance.
00:05:31
Speaker
Those aren't just statements. They're closures, doors quietly shutting. Living intentionally means choosing not to close those doors prematurely.
00:05:43
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It doesn't mean saying yes to everything. It means allowing yourself to wonder again. What would happen if I tried this? What would happen if I slowed down?
00:05:55
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What would happen if I didn't optimize every decision? Curiosity keeps the future open, even when the timeline is shorter.
Finding Meaning Beyond Productivity
00:06:06
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Meaning doesn't require productivity.
00:06:10
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This may be the hardest shift of all. Many people equate meaning with usefulness and usefulness with output. So when work ends, meaning feels kind of fragile.
00:06:25
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Denise says she works with people who held senior roles, leaders, professionals, people whose identity was tightly bound to responsibility. When that role disappears, the question becomes deeply unsettling.
00:06:41
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If I'm not that anymore, who am I? Intentional Living doesn't rush to answer that with another label. Instead, it asks, who are you without performance?
00:06:55
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Who are you when nothing is required? Who are you in your relationships, not on your resume?
00:07:05
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Meaning often shows up quietly in how you listen, in how present you are, in how you care for yourself and for others, and in what you choose not to rush anymore.
00:07:21
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This kind of meaning isn't visible on LinkedIn. It doesn't come with metrics. And that's precisely why it's powerful.
Avoiding Busyness and Embracing Rest
00:07:29
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Letting go of the on-call life.
00:07:33
Speaker
One of the most honest parts of my conversation with Denise was her observation that many people proudly say they'll work into their 80s or 90s, as if stopping would somehow mean failure.
00:07:45
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For some people, continuing to work is energizing and joyful. There's nothing wrong with that. But for others, it's avoidance. Avoidance of stillness. Avoidance of grief.
00:07:58
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Avoidance of asking deeper questions about how they want to live the years they have left. Living intentionally means recognizing that not every season calls for acceleration.
00:08:10
Speaker
Some seasons call for integration. Some call for simplification. some call for rest that isn't earned but is necessary.
00:08:22
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And if we don't practice that before something forces us to stop, illness, loss, or burnout, the adjustment becomes harder.
Guidance on Slowing Down and Embracing Stillness
00:08:32
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So here's a little invitation.
00:08:36
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If you're listening to this and wondering how to live more intentionally, I want to give you just a starting point, not a checklist, not a goal, just a question.
00:08:48
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Where in your life could you soften the pace even slightly? Maybe it's not booking every single day. Maybe it's sitting longer with your coffee in the morning.
00:09:04
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Maybe it's saying no to something without replacing it with something else.
00:09:10
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Maybe it's letting curiosity guide one small choice this week.
00:09:16
Speaker
Intentional living isn't about reinventing yourself overnight. It's about aligning your days with what actually matters now, not what mattered before and not what others expect.
00:09:29
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As Denise said in our conversation, you don't have to keep striving to age well. Sometimes the most intentional choice is to walk gently and trust that meaning will meet you there.
Mindful Exploration of Life
00:09:43
Speaker
So in closing, I just want to say living intentionally takes some courage. We've all been kind of programmed to be doing instead of being, and to step back and just see what life has to offer and take it one step at a time isn't something that happens naturally. It's something that requires some focus and some attention.
00:10:14
Speaker
So just give it some thought this week. What would happen if you slowed down? and didn't make every decision something that was required of you, if you just made choices that let you be for a while, what would happen?
Invitation to Explore Intentional Retirement
00:10:33
Speaker
Thanks for joining me today. If something in today's episode created a spark for you, let's explore it together. I help people heading through retirement create a life that fits them where they are right now.
00:10:45
Speaker
I've also published a variety of books designed to help guide you towards a more fulfilling life. You can find links to my library and to my free call in the show notes and on my website at beyondretirement.ca.
00:11:01
Speaker
And that's it for this episode of Beyond Retirement. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I hope you enjoyed it. Are you ready to start rocking your retirement? Head on over to www.beyondretirement.ca forward slash rocking it and sign up to plan out your own roadmap for retirement.
00:11:20
Speaker
Don't wait till it's too late.