Blog Posts

I am one of those lucky people who knew what they wanted to do at an early age. My 10th grade English teacher inspired me so much that I wanted to be just like her. I started working as a teacher when I was 23 years old, and I have been working in education ever since. Throughout these years I have had many different chapters in my life: I got married, had two children, made new friends, lost a father and father-in-law, earned a degree in higher education, and traveled around the world. Each chapter was new and exciting, and through it all, my career has been a constant.

So, you can imagine my alarm when I started receiving emails this year about planning for retirement. At first, I thought, “Why would I want to retire from a school district that I have worked in for more than 25 years? What else would I do?”

Recently, however, I find myself no longer deleting the retirement planning emails out of hand. 

For me, the idea of a new chapter and deciding what happens next is intriguing but scary. I believe this is true for most people. Although change is inevitable, it doesn’t mean there isn’t anxiety when it happens.

My biggest worry is finding something to do with my time that is as fulfilling as my long career. You hear many people talking about traveling more after they retire, but what do these people do in between trips?

Throughout the month of May, I attended Phil Pizzo’s workshop on Life, Longevity, and Mortality. I took the workshop to see if he would share secrets on how to age better. Aging better, for me, doesn't necessarily mean trying to live a longer life (although of course I hope to), but rather how to make the next chapter meaningful and just as fulfilling as the first few chapters.

Through this class, I learned that there are three basic things people should consider in order to improve life’s journey: 

• Have a purpose 
• Engage in community 
• Foster wellness in body and spirit

As often happens, I started to think about our CBJ community. I wonder in what ways we can provide more opportunities to make the next chapters of all our congregants' lives meaningful and just as fulfilling as previous ones.

No matter which lifecycle event you are closest to, we are all on a journey. One just has to look at the CBJ weekly communication to see the variety of lifecycle events happening in our community. In this last month alone, we had several B'nai Mitzvah celebrations, an Aufruf for a wedding, a grandbaby naming, a retirement after 28 years of service, and sadly, several deaths.

In the coming months we are going to be looking at the long-term vision of CBJ to plan for the next ten years. Along with that, we will be embarking on a capital campaign where we will determine the best ways to maximize the use of our whole facility. These are exciting changes for our community. Ones which will provide opportunities for everyone to find purpose, engagement, and foster wellness in body and spirit.

It is my hope that CBJ can be there for you as you continue through the different chapters of your life. I know I will be looking to our community for support as I take my next steps as well.