The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness

Money actually makes a really poor purpose, money is better viewed as a tool or a conduit where once you have enough of it you can stop focusing on acquiring more of it and it can allow you to do other things that are purposeful. As does working for money you don't need. I can understand if someone's work is working on the cure for cancer or something, but when I look at the vast majority of corporate jobs I doh't really see how people are finding purpose in that. Your company will most likely replace you quickly and move on. Your coworkers will move on. Etc. I retired almost 5 years ago at age 41. I have not been bored at all in RE. I was bored out of my mind at work (finance), and didn't ever really get a sense of purpose from my job. I have a son who I now get to spend a ton of time with, he was 4 when I stopped working. I train BJJ 6 days a week, strength train 3 days a week, read more, walk my dogs. Travel some but not a ton (about 6-8 weeks a year, half of that week long trips and half shorter trips, most of my travel is doing active things, next week my son and I are going on a 6 day white water rafting trip). I find meaning in relationships and in learning things, to include practicing difficult skills. Find some hobbies that allow you to get one to a few hours of challenging flow state activity. You don't have to be good at it, you're not likely to become a world champion at something starting in your 40s and that's not the point, but take the learning process somewhat seriously. Some audiobooks and an interview I found helpful, although truthfully this was not something I really struggled with when I retired. I was pretty burnt out at work and found it pretty easy to transition to RE. The Purpose Code The Meaning of Your Life The Courage to Be Disliked Interview w/ Author of The Way of Excellence (audiobook was also good, but interview covers a lot of it in a shorter format).