By Diane Ramsey | Co-founder, Iowa Women Lead Change

Articles on creating your next chapter, life after retirement and living your best life never interested me when I was “conquering the world of business” over the past 25 years in Iowa. Little did I realize like other baby boomers, I would need a roadmap to help me navigate from my daily existence of life at full throttle to that of a less demanding existence in new environs.

Three years ago, my husband and I chose to change our lives more significantly than in the past 25. Husband Bruce had retired the year before after “going to college every day for 48 years.” Neither of us are Iowa natives, originally hailing from both coasts – he West and me East. We created a list of criteria regarding where we’d like to live our “next chapter” and Santa Fe, N.M., won hands down — even though we did not know a soul there other than the Realtor we met on a previous trip.

Fast forward a few months and we’d purchased a home in Santa Fe and sold ours in Cedar Rapids. Bruce was packed and ready to go. I, however, was not prepared to leave my work at Iowa Women Lead Change and the additional volunteerism I so loved. In the fall of 2015, Bruce moved to New Mexico, and I remained in Iowa living in the equivalent of my college apartment.

IWLC celebrated its 10th anniversary in April 2017. It was a perfect time to wrap up my role and turn over the reins to the next generation of leaders. Then reality set in. I finally experienced this dramatic personal change – our Iowa home was sold, the Wisconsin cottage on 40 acres also sold and I no longer had a full-time job.

I packed up my Volvo wagon with Mom and newly graduated grandson and drove cross country to begin my next chapter. Meanwhile arriving in New Mexico, I learned that for the past 18 months my spouse had created a life without me including a set of friends, interests and activities that occupied his time. Although it was “our” home, I was moving into his space. Last summer was a period of getting settled, completing the “honey do” list and getting to know my new community and all it had to offer.

Nearly a year into this new life, here’s what I learned:

• Reinvention is a process.
• Don’t be hard on yourself/be patient.
• Catch up on your sleep and exercise.
• Maintain your sense of humor.
• It’s tough as the new kid — you won’t have personal capital.
• Don’t forget your “Midwestern nice.”
• Don’t cut all your ties.
• Good friends will remain good friends.
• Be creative in reaching out.
• Do the things you’ve always wanted to do now that you have time.

In part two, I’ll share what I’ve done and how I’ve fared since leaving Iowa.

Diane Ramsey is co-founder of Iowa Women Lead Change (IWLC) – Iowa’s premier leadership organization for women and co-chair of the EPIC Corporate Challenge, Iowa’s statewide public private partnership to advance women.