Life After Medicine Fall/Winter 2024: Balancing Life to Find Joy
By Jon R. Kattenhorn ’74

A
ll of life is about balance—balancing our needs and desires, our responsibilities, our joy, our work, and our fun! Retirement brings a new perspective to these kinds of choices.
I would like to think that for most of us, our main goals in life are joy and contentment. What can we do to maximize that in the face of a newly retired life? Some might say, “Now that I’m retired, I can do anything I want!” It may seem like a big “reward,” and life will be all fun! Well, generally, that is not the case.
There will always be obligations in life, such as maintaining a home, being a part of our families, managing finances, and nurturing our health, for example. As I think about these things, I wonder how we best balance those obligations with our newfound freedom away from the work responsibilities of the last many years. In some ways, it is much easier being retired, and we can choose to “play” as much as we want. But on the other hand, we still must find that balance.
I recently returned from two amazing weeks in Europe cruising the coast of Norway with 94 fellow alumni and friends on the Alumni Association Lifetime Trip, plus a few days in Oslo and London as a bonus. We were all totally immersed in the joy of the experience! What could be better? Well, at the end of two weeks, what I really wanted was to be back home!
It all has to do with finding one’s personal balance. I have friends who travel frequently and for extended time frames. I have others who aren’t going to leave home for more than a long weekend, occasionally! Some plan to play golf several days a week. For others, playing golf once a month is just fine. Every one of us must find our comfort level, our own balance of obligations and pleasure. Just because we don’t have to work doesn’t mean we don’t have to pay attention to our basic responsibilities. We should not feel bad that there are still tasks that need our attention.
I have found that despite the supposed freedom of retirement and maybe doing whatever I want, I am better off and find myself more satisfied if I do have some responsibilities and commitments sprinkled through my calendar. They help me focus on a variety of activities and I feel, at the end of the day or week, more satisfied! In my case, some of those obligations are family and grandchildren-focused. That, of course, is extremely rewarding for me and, at the same time, helpful for my family. Of course, not everyone may be as fortunate as I am with three children and six grandchildren close by, but there are so many ways that we can serve our community or our church community in a way that is rewarding to ourselves and others as well!
Overall, every one of us must find our own balance. But whatever we are balancing, I believe what is most important are our relationships and nurturing those relationships in a variety of ways that include helping others. I hope that we can do that by balancing our everyday obligations with enough variety of joy, fun, and excitement that at the end of the day, we can all smile and be thankful!
Published in the fall/winter 2024 ALUMNI JOURNAL.
Jon Kattenhorn ’74 is a retired OB-GYN specialist and faithful supporter of the Alumni Association. He is a past president of the Association (2021–2022) and continues to serve as an ALUMNI JOURNAL editor.