The behavioral, mental and physical health of our retired members has long been overlooked. This recently developed workshop presents the harsh realities of retiring from the fire service. In this engaging and interactive session, we discuss the emotional, psychological and physical impact experienced by many retirees, and importantly how to best prepare to avoid the pitfalls of retirement. This session offers insight and advice on how to prudently prepare for retirement, what to expect when retired, our emotional, mental and physical resilience and how our long relationship with the fire service will impact our wellness following retirement. The presenter’s personal retirement journey will be shared, offering perspective with real-world experience on how to best prepare, cope and enjoy retirement. Keeping the passion, purpose and sense of belonging and identity we have of our profession through careful retirement preparation will be thoroughly discussed. This program will be equally rewarding to the family of the prospective retiree and their attendance is encouraged. Retirees often experience emotional and psychological difficulties if they have not planned for replacing a sense of belonging, purpose and their former identification that is frequently missing when leaving the fire service. Real world insight is given on how to fill these vital psychological and emotional voids to recapture the passion we had for our former profession. We speak in-depth of filling the voids of the loss of identity, belonging and purpose and passion often absent following retirement and highlight the role resilience play in our overall health.