How to Maintain or Renew Purpose in Life

The Explorers at SRC take turns discussing the topic of how or why to maintain or renew one's sense of purpose in life when aging.

The initial observation shared by all is that isolation is a detrimental condition for older people. And being a group that lives in a community setting, the following insights emerge:

• Moving to a community setting facilitates finding new or established interest groups vs staying home alone.
• Companionship is opportune in community, but not mandatory.
• Living in community offers one role models - survivors of the change process in later life.
• Life 'closes in' with the multiple losses of age, posing the psychological challenge to cope vs. 'waiting for life to end'.

Some choose to participate and seek to help others; others choose the solitary life, seeing forced participation as interfering, and choices are important to people - no one lifestyle seems best for all.