How to Matter More in Later Life: Two Strategies for Adding Value to Your Life After Retirement
What matters in life after finding what happens next
Though many are more interested in the plot issue, such as what will happen next in your life, others are drawn to the mystery of the meaning of life.
Researchers who study meaning in life have broken the concept into three facets: coherence (the feeling that life makes sense), purpose (having and working toward goals), and mattering (the sense that one’s life has value and makes a difference).
Mattering Less
As I move on into my eighties, I see that what happens with aging is that as we retire, we lose our roles as parents and breadwinners. In a word, we begin to matter less both to ourselves and to others.
Mattering means you feel appreciated and respected for what you do.
And this appreciation and respect makes you feel connected to your community and your wider social world
How do these considerations apply to old age? The hallmarks of aging are changes in health, cognition, memory, and social roles. And that we matter less as we experience a fall in appreciation and recognition from others.