In so many ways, it has become increasingly evident that in the second half of life particularly, purpose is as essential to the continuation of life as food and water. Without an engaging sense of purpose, a reason to live, we are at risk of losing our vitality, our momentum, and our will to live.
Especially if you consider that your life was first entrusted on to you, as a gift, you realize the imperative of contributing, of showing up with all you have, to live purposefully to the utmost, all the way to the last breath. With this realization, you will feel the intensity of the ultimate responsibility, as stated in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, that “to realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation”.
In my years of researching, writing about and leading seminars on turning retirement into a purposeful re-engagement, I have observed that there’s a wide spectrum of “retirement” experience: some thrive and say that those are the best years of their life while others become bored, depressed, lost in meaninglessness, get sick and might even die prematurely. But with good psychological preparation, one can maximize the probabilities of ending up on the positive side of this spectrum.
In my book and my seminars, I give wonderful examples of people who have found a truly worthwhile sense of purpose beyond their work life. Here is one among many: Bob Scavullo, resident of San Francisco who retired from a successful career in the high tech industry.
After taking a whole summer off to consider his options, Bob started talking to various professionals in his community and decided to offer himself as a tutor for special needs teens in his local high school. When I interviewed him, a few years after he had started this volunteer work, he said “although my role is mostly about tutoring, my real job is to be a life coach and mentor for these teens. After three or four sessions, we bond and our interaction change into a much deeper kind of conversation, part of which helps them to grow their character strengths.” Bob actually won the San Francisco Volunteer Award a few years ago for this work. But that is not what really matters to him, rather, it’s the fact that he gets to make a significant difference in the life of those teens and that “when I wake up in the morning” said Bob,” I know there are people counting on me and that provides a great motivation”.
If you or someone you know in B.C. is planning to retire this year or within the next 5 years, consider attending this seminar: What’s Next: 10 Success Factors for Living with Purpose, Meaning and Joy at Simon Fraser University in Surrey on Saturday, February 15, 2013. Attending this comprehensive and dynamic learning event will help you to become much better prepared so that you can anticipate that those decades ahead will indeed be the very best of your life. Here’s the link to the course description and/or to register:
http://www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/courses/ctw/beyond-retirement.html
