“The Search for Significance
We have found in our research that all individuals feel the most satisfied with their life when they are on a search for significance, whether they acknowledge it or not. Americans need to know that their lives have meaning and purpose: we are not just passing time and taking up space. The success of Pastor Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life (it has sold 25 million copies and is the best-selling hardcover book in American history), speaks to our hunger for significance. The most mentally healthy retirees are those who have found ways to satisfy their search for significance.
In seeking to understand and flesh out this important concept, we developed a comparison we call adventure vs. quest. As adventure is an activity that benefits the person, such as playing tennis or traveling. Adventures are an important part of health living and are what most individuals look forward to when they think about retirement. However, an adventure has no sustainable significance.
In contrast, a quest involves one or more participants lending themselves to a greater cause. A quest transforms a poor or average retirement into a mind-blowing, all-fulfilling, energized retirement journey. The possibilities are endless and only limited by our unwillingness to expand our horizons. Examples of possible quests include:
- Regularly scheduled volunteering (individual or organizing a group)
- Mentoring someone younger than yourself (adult or child)
- Teaching classes to adults or children or
- Catastrophe relief efforts
Questing is one of the most important, yet underappreciated and underutilized, retirement possibilities. Nothing else has the power to transform on the inside for the better, or to make our lives feel more significant, than questing.
Some of the most successful and meaningful quests begin or combine with an adventure. A good friend of ours rode his bicycle with a group up the highest paved road in the world (Peru). On their way up, they left clothing and supplies with needy orphanages.
Grandparenting is defined as strong and frequent investment in the lives of your grandchildren. It is one of the most powerful and meaningful of all quests. The grandchild-grandparent relationship is imbued with a special magic all its own. A tongue-in-cheek joke says this “special magic” is because both children and grandparents have a common enemy. Seriously, grandparents have a unique ability to make grandchildren feel special, teach them about life, and create memories that will last a lifetime. Please make grandparenting, as defined above, one of your hopefully many quests when planning your retirement. Neither you, nor your grandchildren, will ever be sorry.”
What if you don’t have grandchildren or they don’t live nearby? You can “adopt” a child in the neighborhood or volunteer at your local elementary school or preschool. My daughter and I used to volunteer at a local Head Start preschool in our community. We visited once a week to read aloud to the children as a group. My daughter was in high school then and it was a wonderful experience. When we walked up to the door we could hear the children shouting exuberantly, “the readers are here!” I don’t know who loved it more, the kids or the two of us.
Please leave your stories of questing in the comment section below. I would love to hear about them!
The above excerpt about questing is taken from the book Not Your Father’s Retirement: Preparing for the Rest of Your (Fulfilling) Life by Charles Brown and Dr. David Gursky, published by Rock Solid Publishing in 2010. Used by permission. (The bold phrases in the excerpts were added for emphasis by the author of Living Life Retired.)