You Think Retirement Will Go According to Plan
So Did They.
There are thirty remarkable stories inside Rethink Retirement.
Each one reminds us of something simple and profound:
We live the story in our mind’s eye long before we live it in reality.
Most of us carry a quiet narrative about retirement.
One day…
The work will end.
We will celebrate.
We will exhale.
Life will unfold exactly as we imagined.
We’ve built the myth carefully.
Marie-Claude and Larry Stockl had a version of that story too.
They owned a beautiful farm and a distinctive company called The Horse Institute. Their work was unusual and powerful — helping leaders and teams build trust and effectiveness through experiential learning with horses.
The farm wasn’t just property.
It was identity.
Community.
Purpose.
Daily rhythm.
They decided to put it on the market — casually. Almost experimentally. They did not expect it to sell quickly.
It did.
Suddenly, what had been an abstract future became immediate reality.
Within months they were packing, transitioning, and stepping away from something that had defined them for years. They told themselves they would “plan what’s next” once the dust settled.
Then life interrupted.
Marie-Claude was diagnosed with cancer.
No one includes that chapter in their retirement fantasy.
Health — something we assume will cooperate — became the new center of gravity. Plans paused. Priorities sharpened. The liminal space between “what was” and “what will be” became even more uncertain.
And yet.
Two years later, she has fought through treatment. She has regained strength. She has perspective that cannot be manufactured in a workshop or downloaded from a checklist.
What they realized during that unexpected detour is something many retirees eventually confront:
They did not miss the farm.
They missed the meaning.
The land was beautiful.
But the mission was essential.
They want what they had — but not in the same form.
They no longer need the physical farm to do the work that mattered most. What they are redesigning now is a lighter, more flexible version of The Horse Institute. The heart of it remains: helping people and organizations build better teams, stronger trust, deeper leadership.
Marie-Claude describes it as being reborn.
Larry calls it revitalizing what always mattered.
Their retirement did not follow the script they imagined.
Few do.
Health changes. Markets shift. Businesses sell faster than expected. Parents age. Energy fluctuates. Dreams evolve.
The question is never simply, “What will retirement look like?”
The deeper question is:
What part of you must continue — even if the format changes?
This is why I believe we must rethink retirement not as a reward at the end of a career, but as a transition that requires flexibility, humility, and courage.
In the book, I share thirty stories like this — each different, each honest, each instructive. Some are joyful. Some are sobering. All are real.
Because retirement is not a mythical destination.
It is a human passage.
And passages reshape us.
If you are approaching this stage, ask yourself:
If the outer form of your life changed suddenly, what would you fight to keep?
If you are already retired, consider:
What part of your former work still wants expression — even in a new container?
You can explore Rethink Retirement and the companion workbook here:
You can find the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1636184278
And the workbook here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1636184367
Next week, I’ll share a story of someone who flourished almost immediately — and why.
Because the contrast is illuminating.
— Andi