For the last month or so I have been meeting with a college student who is taking a class about “Stories, Art, and Aging”. She will soon be giving a presentation about what she has learned from our conversations. I am anxious to see that.

That exercise has been fun for me. Given my ineptitude at social things I was hesitant to get involved with this activity. Looking back on it, I am certainly glad that the life enrichment director here at my RetCom talked me into participating.

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Now, to the point of this post, as a result of this activity I have given a significant amount of time to thinking about what, at least for me, gives me purpose during these final years. What is at the core of finally accomplishing that? The “Purpose” question has plagued me throughout my retirement years, all 26 of them. I want to share the insight with you. I can sum it up in the one sentence below:

Find Something You Are Passionate About

Never stop looking until you find it, or it finds you.

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Now on to the story…

When I retired from the corporate world some 26 years ago I was determined to start a workshop and design and build custom-made furniture. That lasted for six years and then I began looking for something else. I guess I had just sucked enough sawdust and needed a change.

While I was building furniture, I also became active at food pantries and food banks. It just kinda made sense to try that for a while. I volunteered at the food bank and helped stock a food pantry in the small rural town where I lived. During that same time I volunteered to help in a soup kitchen in a nearby town. That activity lasted for 8 years. I ended up cooking the meals two days a week and helping another day. Those were some of my most enjoyable times of my life when I knew that so many depended on me to have their daily meals.

Then came the ten years of being a caregiver. My wife, who made some poor health choices almost all her life, was reaping the results of those choices. I spent that ten years helping her whenever necessary.

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Looking back on all those times, my advice to you about finding your purpose is that it may be right in front of you. Maybe you are living your purpose and don’t realize it. I know I struggled through all those years thinking I had to find my purpose when it was in front of me all along. I was just too blind to see it.

If you live your life always seeking what you are passionate about, you will have found your purpose, whether you realize it or not. It is as simple as that.