Retirement is often considered the end, but what if it’s really just the beginning?
A Gettysburg College study found the average person spends 90,000 hours — or one third of their lifetime — at work. For some, retirement is an opportunity for reinvention and trying something different.
Robin Hostick, now 54, had worked in city government for a decade but is best known these days for his large sublime landscape paintings. “I’ve been an artist my whole life,” he says. “I was one of those kids that always won the poster contest in school.”
Growing up in Jacksonville, Oregon, Robin was obsessed with art. But the idea of making a living as an artist didn’t seem possible. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a landscape architecture degree. “A fantastic blend of my passion for the outdoors with artistic design,” he says.
Following graduation, he moved to Munich, Germany, to pursue his architectural opportunities in a new environment. “It was an important part of my education. You make certain assumptions about the way the world is, once you spend long amounts of time in a new place, you understand the world in a different way,” Robin says.
While in Germany, he spent much of his free time exploring the scenery of vast environments, sketching his memories, what he saw and what he felt. “A lot of it has to do with curiosity and exposure to new things. Art and the pursuit of art is about constant exploration,” he says.
From there, Robin began his involvement with city planning, helping build the city of Eugene’s urban design program from 2008 to 2013 and served as the planning director from 2013 to 2020. After years of working in public service, “I had this feeling come over me. I had a couple of kids, different busy careers, I thought I just really want to see what I can do painting landscapes,” he says. “I wanted to bring that feeling into my home.”
He started by pursuing a goal: “I took on the challenge of doing 50 paintings in a year,” he says.
“At some point I realized, as comfortable as a career is, I felt like leaving that — with kids in college, it was a huge risk, but I felt inspired by family members passing away, learning that this is real and we only have one shot at life,” he says.
In January 2020, at age 49, he stepped down from his planning director position to pursue a full time art career, “I’m going to give this a good shot and not even think about doing anything else for three years.”
He pulls his inspiration from his love of and connection with the outdoors. For decades, Robin spent his time fostering a foundation for a strong community. Now, he’s able to explore an art passion where he feels fulfilled, connected and grounded to his environment around him. He’s constantly out in nature seeking inspiration and looks for times, places and moments when the landscape “reveals itself, in ways that are emotional and moving,” he says.
“Even though my art is quite representational, I paint them more for the way they feel than the way they literally appear,” he says. “I look at something and I feel something, but I don’t always know why, sometimes I don’t know why until after I’ve painted it.”
Ute Hostick, Robin’s wife, now 57, earned her master’s degree from the University of Oregon and later a Ph.D. in developmental biology from the University of Tübingen in Germany.
“Combining genetics and molecular biology, that was my passion and still is,” Ute says.
After returning to Eugene, she ran one of the University of Oregon core lab facilities for 20 years. “Science is an evolving field. When you go to school, you think, ‘We know everything.’ It’s like, ‘No, we know very little,’” she says.
Ute studied model organisms and genes in detail, understanding how obesity comes about. “It’s not one factor, it’s not five factors, it’s hundreds of factors,” she says. “Now, we understand that lifestyle and our environment has a huge effect on gene expression,” she added.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, lab and research facilities were shut down at the University of Oregon. “There was less work, and a busy mind just doesn’t sit still,” Ute says. She needed an opportunity to occupy her time, something giving her purpose.
“I read an article about health coaching, I found it intriguing,” she says.
After feeling a lack of purpose matched with a lack of work, she began researching healthy lifestyle habits — something Ute has always been intrigued by, and because of her qualifications, her family and friends often ask her opinion regarding health and wellness. After some inspiration, Ute decided she would obtain the qualifications and knowledge to begin to pursue life as a health coach.
After she received her qualifications in 2021, “I started giving lectures at Willamalane and the downtown Eugene library,” she says. Her advice: “The sooner you start with healthy lifestyles, the better.” She feels “honored” to share her lifelong passion for science and biology to those in need. For decades, she worked in lab facilities, and now she feels fulfilled working directly with the community and those in need of a boost, she adds.
Once you understand why you want to do what you want to do, the mindset of “I have to do this” shifts to “I want to do this and nothing will get in the way of it,” Ute says.
“You have all the reasons not to. But if you want it, you’ll find a way to do it. It’s not easy,” she says.
Sara Stankey, age 55, like Robin Hostick, worked in government before beginning her third act. She retired at 54 after working for the Children Services Division for over 30 years in Eugene. Now she owns and runs Your Magic Journey, an independent travel agency. Immersed in the community for decades, she spent most of her time helping families and children. Helping people embark on adventures, she says, is not that different.
“I’ve always loved to travel. My dad did research overseas, so I lived in Australia for a couple years,” Sara says. After she had children of her own, “We’ve been fortunate to be able to travel with our children — it’s my favorite thing to read, think and learn about.” In an era when huge online companies have taken over the travel industry, the work of a “travel agent” has shifted.
“The job is different than it used to be. Most people aren’t using a travel agent to book a flight, but sometimes it’s hard to clear out the noise of the internet and figure out where you really want to go,” she says. “That’s where I come in.”
As someone who has always worked for the government, being self-employed is “a very different animal,” she says. “It’s really exciting for me. I’m loving it so far.”