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What makes life mean something is purpose

I’ve watched a few people retire and it’s a difficult transition.

You could argue that work was just a placeholder for finding your purpose. We need money to live and you need to work to make money, so your work gave your life that purpose. But it was a macguffin.

In retirement, theoretically, you have all the money you’ll need. And so you stop working.

And now you have to struggle through the process of finding meaning in your life. What a pickle we find ourselves in.

Time for some advice from Richard Nixon. 🤣

Tricky Dick’s Essential Retirement Advice [The Best Interest] – “Virtually every study of retiree “success” will mention purpose. Though, to be fair, “purpose” and “work” are not synonymous. A person can find immense purpose without having a job or some laborious task. 

But honing in on that purpose isn’t easy. 

Retirement expert Fritz Gilbert describes finding purpose as “…the greatest of the secrets to a great retirement. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the more difficult to achieve.  Finding a purpose is an intangible quest, with no clearly defined checklists available to guide you in your search.” 

BTW, Jesse is great and he cites Fritz, who is also great and his blog is often cited here. Enjoy!