Lessons from Darwin

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Bucket List: Trip to the Galapagos Islands. ✔ Check.

Honestly, I don’t have a bucket list. So when friends, Dennis and Jan, invited us to join them on a trip to the Galapagos Islands, I didn’t even know where to find this destination on the map. This trip was on Dennis’ bucket list. Still, Dave and I are always up for an adventure so we signed up, and then did our research.

The Galapagos Islands is a volcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. The Galapagos tortoise might be the most popularly recognized animal, but the diversity of plant and animal species, many of which are found nowhere else, is the reason it’s considered one of the world’s foremost destinations for wildlife-viewing. 

We were aboard the National Geographic Endeavor II, a beautiful ship that accommodates 96 guests. It was an expedition—each day filled with hiking, deep-sea snorkeling, kayaking, all while observing amazing animals, fish, and plant life. Now I understand why people have the Galapagos Islands on their bucket lists!

The Galapagos Islands is also home to the Charles Darwin Research Station. As I was entering the lobby, the quote on the door grabbed my attention. “It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”—Charles Darwin, English naturalist and geologist

Adapts to change—seems to fit the challenge of adapting to retirement. If you’re resisting change, feeling like retirement has robbed you of who you used to be, how's this working for you? Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, author of The Third Chapter, reminds us, “Resisting change in retirement is like trying to stand still in a fast moving river.”

Instead of hanging on to what you used to be, Lawrence-Lightfoot suggests retirement “requires the willingness to take risks, experience vulnerability and uncertainty, learn from experimentation and failure, seek guidance and counsel from younger generations, and develop new relationships of support and intimacy.”

No one said retirement was going to be easy. But if you want to do more than just survive, if you want to thrive, take Darwin's advice: be adaptable to change.

Copyright 2018. Patrice Jenkins. All Rights Reserved.