Yes, you can change the world. It may even be your calling at this new stage in your life. Finding the right mix of earning, saving, spending, and giving isn't easy. You'll have to experiment. And don't be discouraged if what you try at first doesn't quite fit. There is a lot of trial and error in this endeavor, as with most pursuits in life. Heck, even Match.com gives you six months for one fee, realizing that a good fit takes time to find. You'll have to stay with it. But in the right situation, giving of yourself could very well provide your path to a life with purpose.
Try to clear out some of life's trifles that might be clogging your agenda and make service a part of your life-be it an hour a day, a week, or a month. This trail has been blazed; you have role models. President
Clinton may be the quintessential example of a young retiree reinventing himself and finding meaning through his efforts to make the world a better place. He is now focused on his work for the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual international superforum where he brings together those who have resources to contribute and those who could benefit from their contributions. "I wanted to use my time, experience, and contacts to help in saving lives, solving problems, and empowering more people to achieve their goals," Clinton says in Giving. He speaks for many of us. The meaning and purpose of civic responsibility is being rediscovered.
As you emerge from your householder phase, a long period where you have been overwhelmed with duties to your employer and family and probably consumed with material gain, you will rediscover that doing more meaningful things with your time and helping others is the way to bring your life into balance and achieve a higher state of existence.
Modern psychology teaches that ultimate fulfillment is about exploring oneself; success in that vein is self-awareness. You've hit the jackpot if you become comfortable with who you are. But I believe there is more to fulfillment.
We are not islands. We live together, and when you die you leave a legacy for good or ill. At this stage in your life you've got to think in bigger terms-about your moral commitment to leave the world a better place than you found it. Only in going beyond self-awareness-to legacy and giving back-is true fulfillment possible.
What You Think
You Know about Success- and How You're Wrong
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time.
Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.
-E. B. White
When I was a young man and had barely begun what would become a huge part of my life's work-the psychology of aging-I had the great fortune to be invited to Berkeley, California, to partner with Dr. Gay
Luce in an innovative research program that came to be known as the Sage Project. Our goal was to examine how the bodies and minds of men and women past the age of sixty might be refreshed so that they could continue to contribute to society or, at least, remain sufficiently engaged to enjoy their later life. This was long before yoga and meditation became popular. Indeed, it was the first major late-life preventative health care study in North America. The Sage Project helped lay the foundation for the work of Andrew Weil and Dean Ornish and others in the field of self-healing.
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