Living the Lifestyle, Wildcard Friday! 12-2-2022

steve0mania

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion.

Monday - crewahl (Charlie)
Tuesday – Flintwinch (Tim)
Wednesday - misterhub (Greg)
Thursday -imastar2 (Derrick)
Friday - Wildcard

Today's Topic: Living with meaning.

There was a commercial on the radio this morning advertising on-line psychological therapy. The commercial focused on mental burnout, and emphasized that burnout isn't only associated with work, but can also be associated with any role that you play that might cause ongoing anxiety (e.g., being a caretaker for someone who is ill). The commercial discussed some of the symptoms of burnout, like fatigue, irritability, and a sense of meaningless.

This got me thinking about my own ups-and-downs. I'm planning on retiring next year, and I am not ready to sit out on a boat and fish all day long. Instead, there are a number of things I'd like to focus on. A lot of those plans are because I want to feel like I'm still living a meaningful life and contributing to the world.

So, my question for the day is: do you feel like you are living with meaning? What does that mean to you? How are you living with meaning? Or, if you're not (in your own eyes), what does that mean to you and does it matter?

steve0mania

I was at a work event last night with lay-people who are not in the medical/research field. A number of those lay-folks commented on what a meaningful career I must have, with a focus on kids with cancer. It's funny, but it's hard to think that it's meaningful when it's your day-to-day grind.

Nevertheless, I guess I do think I'm leading a meaningful life. Work is certainly one thing, but I like to think that I contribute to the world in other ways too. I think we've done a reasonable job raising our kids to be contributors to the world. I like the work I've done in some volunteer efforts. In the past few years, I have tried to live my life in a way that brings honor to the Jewish tradition (and more specifically, to G-d in the world). I don't proselytize, but instead hope that I live as an example.

As you might imagine, some of these things will continue (and expand) as I retire, but I want to make sure that I still view myself as living a meaningful life when one of my bigger identities (as a doc/researcher) goes away.

crewahl

Great question, Steve. I read it yesterday, but had to think about “the meaning of meaning” for a bit. I’m still not sure I’m comfortable with that, but . . .

I think for me it comes down to “am I contributing to society?” You can, of course, immediately ask “what do you mean by society?”, but I’m gonna simply sidestep that one and let people decide it for themselves. I think some of the criteria for contributing to society are:

• Are you living life based on a code of values, and if so, are you living up to those values?
• Are you giving back to the community based on the gifts or skills you’ve been given?
• Are you, in some fashion, lifting up or supporting those less fortunate?

Yes, I’ve stacked the deck with those criteria because those are things I think I do that add value to society, and therefore let me claim a “meaningful” badge. I also have plenty of self-indulgence in my life that doesn’t fit those criteria, because all the saints I’ve read about ended up getting martyred, and that’s not for me. I try to balance “giving back” with “the rewards of my labors”, and enjoy things that weren’t feasible when working.

Steve - just wanted to applaud you for thinking about this is advance, and thinking about it the way you are. For me, it’s been about finding ways to use the skills that I developed at work in ways that I couldn’t deploy because of the fact I was working. Does that make sense?

Okay, enough deep thoughts for the week. Time for some holiday music! 😉

steve0mania

crewahl wrote: »

Steve...For me, it’s been about finding ways to use the skills that I developed at work in ways that I couldn’t deploy because of the fact I was working. Does that make sense?

Yes, that does make sense. Indeed, part of my impetus to retire is that work is getting in the way of the things I want to do at this point in my life. As you suggested, they may be skills that I've developed at work, or as an alternate explanation, they are skills (or maybe personality traits?) that directed me towards the work I do. As one example, I tend to be logical. That's been a strong skill for my work life that impacts on my ability to work through a scientific problem, hypothesis, data, and interpretation. It also impacts on my ability to write, and to carry out large/long-term projects. I would like to take these types of skills and apply them, for example, to writing for the lay public, or towards volunteer work (where I already tend to take-point on larger projects that require an overarching strategy based on a logical progression of tasks).

crewahl

Working in commercial insurance claims gave me a lot of exposure to reading complex documents, and it made me very comfortable working with numbers and with computers. That made volunteering with AARP as part of Tax Aide (doing taxes for free for the elderly and low income) a good fit with my less-developed altruism gene. Now, I’m considering the possibility of volunteering as a SHIP counselor (State Health Insurance Assistance Program), which helps seniors understand their options in Medicare and what the impact of those decisions might be.