Advice From the World of a Science Retiree

By Howard Young, Retired Principal Investigator, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland, USA

Having been retired for 10 months, I thought I would provide a bit of advice of what to expect in retirement for someone who had a scientific career. Drs. Sharon Wahl and Charlie Glinka contributed some thoughts to this list.

• When you wake up, you have no idea what day it is.
• In forthcoming papers (if you have any), it doesn’t matter if you are first, last or a middle author.
• What’s coming out in Science or Nature begins to lose its importance.
• Maintaining society memberships reverts to Emeritus and saves you money.
• Journals you still subscribe to start to pile up on your desk.
• You now realize that you have grandchildren and that your children are over 40.
• While you now have plenty of time to do errands, sitting in a lounge chair might be your priority.
• Your thought about starting to cook family meals quickly dissipates after your first try.
• You begin to be less critical when reviewing papers.
• You have no desire to write reviews despite many invitations to do so; especially since that by the time you finish it, it will be outdated.
• If you do decide to attend a scientific conference, you forget the names of at least 50% of the attendees who seem to know you.
• You find that you have time to read the entire Sunday paper – but you fall asleep doing so, largely due to the small print.
• You think about mowing the lawn but decide a more “natural” lawn is better.
• You decide you want to start woodcarving but give up after applying the 5th band aid to your fingers.
• You look forward to traveling but realize that during your career, you have been in so many cathedrals, you may qualify for sainthood.
• The only invitations you get to speak are to your granddaughter’s girl scouts meeting.
• You may get many awards for your science but unfortunately few come with cash.
• You miss writing grants so much that you start sending Letters to the Editor in the Washington Post and New York Times.
• You actually volunteer to be on committees, regardless of what they are focused on.
• You may actually volunteer to go get gas for your significant other. You do have minor trouble in figuring out how to release the gas cap.
• You will actually learn how to use the TV remote.
• You no longer have to set the coffee pot timer the night before to be able to rush out the door in the AM.
• You can attend your grandchild’s sports or artistic event in the middle of the afternoon.
• You don’t need to take leave to visit the doctor or the dentist.
• Lunch with your colleagues doesn’t focus on your latest research data.
• You can read a book or journal that is not science.
• You still go to seminars on occasion but more to see old friends rather than for the content.
• At seminars, the speaker sometimes can’t tell if you are nodding in agreement or nodding off.
• You don’t have to worry about figuring out how to use ChatGPT.
• You have time to write The World of a Science Retiree.