Bored with Life? Take a Lover! (figuratively speaking)

If you’re still working at a “job” at 50 years of age (that is, not self employed), good for you!  Chances are the benefits are good including insurance, retirement, and paid vacations, not to mention your steady paycheck.  The honeymoon may be over, per se, but the perks may be enough to keep you excited about getting out of bed in the morning and tackling your day.  It’s even better if the thought of what you have to accomplish in your work day, and the goals that you have set for yourself, make you bound out of bed ready to conquer the world.  While I was still working full-time, despite experiencing occasional days when my work lacked luster, overall I felt the work I was doing was making a difference.  I worked in Healthcare Information Technology and, even though I didn’t care directly for patients, I believed that the work I did gave frontline caregivers the tools and information they needed at their fingertips to serve our patients.  I especially enjoyed new and creative projects like opening up new care facilities and ensuring the requisite information infrastructure was in place.

For many people, though, once we reach our 50s, and more so into our 60s, it can be a little more challenging to feel motivated.  If you’ve reached a career pinnacle, perhaps achieving a directorship, VP or C-Level position, it may feel that there is nowhere further to go.  Certainly, if you are in a very senior role, there is plenty to inspire you, and as much to cause ongoing stress.  Whatever the scenario, after 50 (and especially after 60) your career trajectory begins to change.  Many people are simply waiting out the next few years until “retirement,” semi-retirement, freelancing, business ownership or, perhaps, paths to ongoing passive income.  If that is the case, the promise of that future can provide motivation.  However, if that end state is still several years away, you may need some added incentive to fire you up.  If you’re bored and lethargic, take a lover!  Of course, I don’t mean that literally, but think about it for a moment.  People take lovers because they have become bored and complacent in their relationships, and they want new blood, and a reason to get excited.  Conceptually, this makes perfect sense.  If you are experiencing  work doldrums (or life doldrums post-work into retirement), find something that will get you excited and fire up your joie de vivre.  Find a passion - singing, dancing, painting, writing, hiking, surfing, tennis, yoga, mentoring,volunteering, traveling.  There are many options to explore.  If there is a political cause you feel passionate about - seek a volunteer opportunity or have fun and blog about it.  Who knows?  You might even make money as a blogger (but, by all means, don’t start blogging for the money).  If you want to blog, pick a topic that inspires you and might interest others and start writing.  Anyone can start a blog, not necessarily a good one, but we can all write.  If that’s the path you choose, find a platform like Substack in order to publish and share your blog.  If writing is not your thing, find that local charity that feeds the homeless, or reads books to people who are homebound.  If you are an animal lover, maybe you want to train a service dog and make visits to nursing homes and hospitals with your sweet pet, sharing the love with sick patients or the elderly.  Activities like these can provide you with new passion and excitement to greet the day. 

The number of people I encounter who have taken up ballroom dance or tango after 50 is quite surprising, and I have seen some spectacular older dancers.  They stay in shape and keep their bodies moving, which we all need to do, while swaying to the music and maybe even finding new loves.  It really shouldn’t be difficult to find your passion.  While you’re sitting at your work desk, whether at home or in an office, do you ever think to yourself, “I’d much rather be lying on a beach somewhere,” or “I’d rather be in Paris”?  Whatever you would rather be doing other than working may be just the passion you want to pursue.  You may not have the means to travel year-round, but if you love travel, there are numerous opportunities to become a part-time travel agent or cruise booking agent.  Sometimes, these gigs come with trips.  We’ve all heard of people who work for health insurance.  What if you could just work for the “paid vacations” (trips that you get for booking people).  

The bottom line is that we are all human.  We need motivation to get out of bed in the morning.  Work provides that motivation for much of our lifetime.  When you are nearing the end of that source of motivation, or if that source no longer motivates you, instead of finding a lover, find a new love!  It could add years to a life of happiness!