About Cynthia Ross Tustin
And why this exists?
Retirement is supposed to feel good.
You work for decades to get there. You plan, you save, you build a life. And then one day, you finally have time. At first, it feels exactly how you expected.
Until it doesn’t.
Most people prepare for retirement financially. Far fewer prepare for what comes after the retirement party.
The pension paperwork gets completed. The farewell lunch ends. The watch gets presented. The congratulations cards are signed.
And then, one day, many retirees find themselves sitting at the kitchen table, asking questions nobody mentioned during the retirement seminar.
Who am I now? What do I do with my time? What matters next? Why does this feel different from what I expected?
I know those questions because I’ve asked them myself.
What I Started Noticing
When I retired, I expected the practical adjustments. What caught me off guard were the deeper ones.
The questions about identity, purpose, friendship, belonging, structure, freedom, and what comes next. As I talked with other retirees, I realized I wasn’t alone.
Many people had prepared for retirement. Very few had prepared for the transition.
Not because they had done anything wrong. Because the experience was often bigger, more varied, and more complicated than the stories we had been told.
So I started writing.
Retirement Field Notes
What began as a retirement website gradually became something else. An ongoing collection of observations about life after work.
The essays here explore life after work through questions about retirement, aging, friendship, caregiving, place, purpose, curiosity, identity, and the ways people continue to grow long after their careers end. Many of these pieces appear as Retirement Field Notes — essays inspired by conversations, experiences, observations, and questions that seem to keep showing up in the lives of retirees.
Not advice.
Not instruction.
Observations.
Because sometimes understanding what you’re experiencing is more useful than being told what to do.
A Little About Me
Before retirement, I spent my career in high-pressure environments where structure, clarity, leadership, and decision-making mattered every day. I served as a Fire Chief, ICU and Emergency Room nurse, instructor, policy writer, and municipal leader.
Those experiences taught me a great deal about people, resilience, behaviour, systems, and change. What surprised me was how relevant those lessons would become after retirement.
Today I split my time between Ontario and Costa Rica, where I continue to observe, write, travel, create, and occasionally ask questions that seem larger than they first appear.
The Retire Active Method
Along the way, I developed the Retire Active Method.
The Method grew out of my own experience navigating retirement and the patterns I observed in others.
It provides a practical framework for moving through retirement with greater clarity and intention.
Phase 1: Stabilize — understand the transition and reduce overwhelm.
Phase 2: Rebuild — create structure, routines, and habits that support everyday life.
Phase 3: Reinvent — explore new possibilities and build a life that feels meaningful and distinctly your own.
What You’ll Find Here
Retirement Field Notes
Observational essays about life after work.
Ordinary Tuesdays
Reflections on everyday life, curiosity, aging, and the things we notice when we finally have time to notice them.
Travel & Place
Because where we live shapes how we live.
The Method
Practical tools and resources for navigating retirement.
Where To Start
If you’ve recently retired and something feels a little different than you expected, you’re not alone.
Start with the Retirement Field Notes.
Or begin with the Retire Active 7-Day Plan.
Either way, welcome. I’m glad you’re here.
The Retire Active 7-Day Plan is designed to help you regain structure and take the first step forward.
The Active Retiree Method is available
A 90-day framework to help you move through retirement with clarity, structure, and purpose.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.