Retirement can be a wonderful opportunity to do what you love. But it’s easy to find yourself feeling lost, lonely, or confused about your identity.
In our 10-week program, coming later in 2024, we will help you clarify your purpose, rediscover your passions, and strengthen your relationships.
The ten-week program takes place as a series of Zoom calls, during which you’ll walk through exercises that have been developed by experts in psychology, connection, and personal growth.
A discussion and activity guide helps you and your fellow participants take turns leading the group, keeping time so that everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
The ten-week Retirement program, coming in the fall of 2024, takes place as a series of Zoom calls, during which you’ll walk through conversation starters, readings, and exercises that have been developed by experts in spirituality, connection, and psychology.
A discussion and activity guide helps you and your fellow participants take turns leading the group, keeping time so that everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders. Settle into silence.
Read aloud the Agreements: the perfect tool for collective intention-setting.
Journal with heart-expanding reflection prompts.
Rediscover your faith in humanity. Reconnect with your deepest self.
Feel seen and validated as you share. Experience deep connection as you listen.
Get settled into the program with an introductory overview and grounding reflection activity.
Dive deep into your career story with a powerful exercise that will help you clarify your identity.
Connect the dots between the roles you've played at work and at home – and choose what you want to keep and what you want to let go of.
Take a breath and allow the power of poetry to help deepen your connection with your innermost self.
Get clear on what matters most to you with a unique values-mapping exercise.
Explore how your relationships may evolve and decide how you want to invest in them.
Rediscover your hidden passions and plan how you'll explore them.
Get out of your head and into your body to discover your inner wisdom with a powerful embodied practice.
Clarify your legacy and how you want to be remembered by the people you love.
Find purpose, share your passion, and celebrate the clarity you've discovered over the 10 weeks.
Get settled into the program with an introductory overview and grounding reflection activity.
Dive deep into your career story with a powerful exercise that will help you clarify your identity.
Connect the dots between the roles you've played at work and at home – and choose what you want to keep and what you want to let go of.
Take a breath and allow the power of poetry to help deepen your connection with your innermost self.
Get clear on what matters most to you with a unique values-mapping exercise.
Explore how your relationships may evolve and decide how you want to invest in them.
Rediscover your hidden passions and plan how you'll explore them.
Get out of your head and into your body to discover your inner wisdom with a powerful embodied practice.
Each ten-week Nearness program takes place as a series of Zoom calls, during which you’ll walk through exercises to navigate retirement that have been developed by experts in psychology, connection, and personal growth. A discussion and activity guide helps you and your fellow participants take turns hosting the conversation, keeping time so that everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
Curious to learn more? We’re hosting a number of free 90-minute webinars to help you get the most out of your retirement. The webinars are led by Nearness CEO, Harvard-trained facilitator and author of The Power of Ritual, Casper ter Kuile, and Nearness COO and writer for a range of popular publications Alec Gewirtz. Register for a webinar now!
This 10-week program is the first of a three-part experience. The following two courses will be offered later in 2024. You can take one, two, or all three programs.
Nearness is a 10-week program (running from February 12 to April 15) that takes place as a series of Zoom calls. You'll be matched into a small group of 6-7 people by complimentary interests and backgrounds, and you’ll walk through exercises that have been developed by experts in psychology, connection, and personal growth. A discussion and activity guide helps you and your fellow participants take turns hosting the conversation, keeping time so that everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
The retirement program will provide you with teachings and practices that enable you to clarify your identity, priorities, and values in this new chapter. At the same time, it will give you a group of thoughtful peers with whom to navigate retirement’s challenges and feel less isolated.
Research on “Blue Zones” – areas in the world where people live much longer than people elsewhere – show that having a strong support group is strongly correlated to longer life spans. In Okinawa, Japan – the site of a famous study on centenarians, or people who live into their 100s – one of the key factors in their longevity was shown to be “maois,” which Blue Zone researchers describe as “a social support network” in which friends “meet for a common purpose.” In a sense, Nearness offers a different kind of social support network directed toward a common purpose, which can have profound effects on your wellbeing.
Nearness is created by a growing team of community-builders, facilitators, and program designers.
Co-Founder and CEO Alec Gewirtz is an expert on human connection and spirituality. He's led the design and execution of thousands of small-group conversations, and his work has been featured on BBC and in The Atlantic. A graduate of Princeton University and a former Fulbright Research Scholar at The University of Toronto, he lives in New York City.
The Nearness was formerly led by Co-Founder Casper ter Kuile, now Director of Special Projects, who is the author of The Power of Ritual, a former Harvard Divinity School Innovation Fellow, the co-founder of research and design firm Sacred Design Lab, and the co-creator of podcasts Harry Potter and the Sacred Text and The Real Question. He lives with his husband in Brooklyn, NY.
Nearness is just in English for now—but with a number of participants for whom English is their second language. In the future we hope to have Nearness groups in many different languages!
The only data Nearness collects is from your intake form, which we keep safe and secure, and for our own use only. We will never share this information.
Nearness uses Mighty Networks as our community platform. You can read their robust privacy policy here.
Yes! Whether fully retired, partially retired, or merely contemplating retirement, you’re absolutely welcome in the program.
The ten-week program costs $199—which means that each gathering costs $19.90.
If you attend the first three small group conversations and decide the program isn’t for you, we will fully reimburse you.
Also, scholarships are available! If you need financial support (or would like to cover the cost for someone else), please email us at hello@nearness.coop and let us know you're interested in our pay-what-you-can option—no questions asked. We want everyone to be able to participate in this course.
Small groups will meet in the fall of 2024 for 90 minutes at one of the consistent weekly meeting times below. You can choose whichever one of these times works best for you:
Tuesdays at 9:00am - 10:30am Eastern Time (ET) / 6:00am - 7:30am Pacific Time (PT) / 3:00pm - 4:30pm Central European Time (CET)
Tuesdays at 7:30pm - 9:00pm ET / 4:30pm - 6:00pm PT / 1:30am - 3:00am CET
Wednesday at 12:00pm - 1:30pm ET/ 9:00am - 10:30am PT / 6:00pm - 7:30pm CET
Wednesday at 8:00pm - 9:30pm ET/ 5:00pm - 6:30pm PT / 2:00am - 3:30am CET
Thursdays at 2:00pm - 3:30pm ET / 11:00am - 12:30pm PT / 8:00pm - 9:30pm CET
Sundays at 1:00pm - 2:30pm ET / 10:00am - 11:30am PT / 7:00pm - 8:30pm CET
Sundays at 7:00pm - 8:30pm ET / 4:00pm - 5:30pm PT / 1:00am - 2:30am CET
Great. Please feel free to reach out to us with questions at hello@nearness.coop!