You have probably heard about carrying a lot of “baggage.” Usually this implies that someone has a backlog of unresolved issues from either a rocky home life, a succession of bad romances, career setbacks, or other potholes along the road of life. Getting ready for the life you will have after working full-time includes dealing with the accumulation of all your baggage up to, and including, this turning point. Whether the new adventure goes well has a lot to do with what has occurred in your life so far and how you have reacted to and interpreted the events that have shaped you as a person. Not only do you want to be financially secure, but you also want to have your emotional life working for your goals, rather than against them.

For those who have undergone self-scrutiny throughout life, the process of examining one's inner self comes more naturally. If you are one of these people, good for you. You probably already have the skills to help you face the myriad thoughts and feelings that will accompany this big change in your life. If, however, you are not accustomed to taking a self-inventory or deliberately working on changes in your outlook in difficult situations, you may find yourself ambushed by emotions you neither expected nor sought. Short of psychotherapy, there are a number of steps you can take to assess your emotions and attitudes about how you expect the departure from your career to make you feel. If you are now ten or twenty years from actually taking the plunge, you should still tick off a mental inventory for scenarios you can envision and, perhaps more importantly, how you might cope if faced with the unexpected.

At the outset, take an inventory of where you are now, and, as best you can, forecast where you might be when you are in your fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond in the following categories:

• Health and energy level

• Shared household companions, if any

• Pets

• Income sources

• Debts or other obligations

• Family responsibilities

• Paid work — number of hours a week

• Unpaid work — number of hours a week

• Likelihood of relocating

Try starting a private log book in which you can make notes on where you stand with these benchmarks. Be sure to jot down any changes in your current status, and any shifting in your expectations for the coming decades based on new knowledge you have gained. Remember, since this is an emotion inventory, you need to include your reactions to these events and forecasting. The diary is completely private — for your eyes only — so there's no need to shape your views to what you think others would expect you to say or feel. Say it as it is for the moment. Why not plan to do it each year around your birthday — so you won't forget! Over time you can read what you have written and notice any pattern, or changes in the evolution of your life.