We’ve made real progress in the past decade in the fight against traditional retirement. Even in the space of 10 years, the number of people who are railing against traditional retirement and offering alternatives has grown exponentially.

Jan Allen is one of the pioneers who has gone public about how poorly traditional retirement fits into our 21st century world of ever-increasing longevity and ever-decreasing prejudice against people aged over 50.

In this TEDx presentation from 2012, Jan urges us to “retire retirement.” Hallelujah to that!

She tells us traditional retirement was a concept dreamed by the leisure industry early in the 20th century as a one-way ticket to our final days, a short span of a couple of years where we could rest and relax before inexorable decrepitude took hold of us.

But the gift of longevity has utterly changed that calculus. We’re living decades longer and enjoying good health for decades longer compared with when the backroom boys in the leisure industry ‘created’ retirement in the early 20th century.

As is so often the case, social attitudes are much slower to evolve than the facts on the ground, and Jan talks about the moments when family, friends, colleagues and neighbours – either innocently or even deliberately – try to put us in a box that says, ‘Past Its Used-By Date.’

That’s when we need simple strategies and techniques to dust ourselves off from the insult and reset our determination to live and love and work and play as would anyone half our age.

Jan’s solution to keep us on track when we’re feeling sad or anxious is to ask ourselves, “What’s My Next?” What’s my next career move to keep me in the workforce for as long as I wish? What’s my next learning opportunity? What’s my next involvement in a community project?

Along with her “What’s My Next?” question, Jan uses the analogy of a door to imagine the adventures and infinite opportunities open to us once we’re aged over 50.

As her friend said, whatever choices we make, the tragedy for us would be to ignore the gift of longevity and not make the absolute most of the extra decades so many of us will have to work and play and learn and love.