Finding Purpose In Your Life
After age 70, the Big Question becomes: “What is essential for a good life now?
Modern medicine has extended life expectancy in the US far beyond the wildest dreams of people just a century ago. Those of you who are 70 or older are likely to live 15 or 20 or even 25 more years. As we age, our life expectancy grows too. And as we age we evolve. We start asking different questions that need new answers.
The Big Questions become: “What is the purpose of all these added years?”, “ What is essential for a good life now?” and we may even find ourselves wondering from time to time, “Just why should I survive?”
As we move into the seventies we experience many transitions. Most of us are no longer working at all. The children are gone. We have fewer responsibilities of all kinds and may have downsized. And our future is getting smaller. Many of us go along from day to day rarely thinking about the Big Questions.
Let’s start with me. I am still busy though I am doing far less than in earlier decades. My psychotherapy practice is smaller and part-time. My writing projects are less demanding. I have less energy than in the past and tasks seem to take me longer, but I love what I do and I usually sail along with a sense of well-being.
When I lost optimism
