THE LONG TAIL OF PURPOSE

The need for purpose can haunt you and follow you into retirement. Even after a great career, raising you kids, having grandchildren and many accomplishments, there still can be a need to have some type of purpose in retirement.

Much is written about this subject and how to find missing purpose. Hobbies, family and volunteering help for a time. However, it never seems quite enough. We lived such an A to B life before retirement.

How do we find that purpose again, or should we at all? Most articles will urge you to strive for it. However, there is another way. It is to look beyond the need for the type of purpose we knew in the past. 

At some point, you start to realize that the driving need for purpose limits your enjoyment of the wonderful gift of free time that retirement gives us. A time when you can explore the full range of senses of what it means to enjoy life and be alive. The fresh fall breeze, the sounds of the city and nature, the taste and smell of a well prepared meal, the warmth of friends and family. When you put traditional purpose in the rear view mirror, you find yourself more in tune with the world.

All these things have little to do with purpose as we have known it. They will, though, make you a better person. One who moves through life more gently. You become a more positive force in the world. 

This concept is even great to practice before you retire.

You may also find that you will recognize small and simple things you can do to help others along the way. I am not sure there is any greater purpose than that.

David Young