Maybe you are one of the lucky few who can daydream with enthusiasm about, “when I retire, I am going to…” Assuming you have arrived at (or are close to) that time of freedom, what do you want to be or to do with the rest of your life?

According to an AARP study, almost 80% of baby-boomers plan to continue working after reaching the so-called retirement years – full time, part time, paid or unpaid. Those aged 55+ are poised to rewrite the rules of so-called retirement. People are primed to build a new dream of freedom to work in new ways and to new ends.

Here are some practical tips on how to research and uncover ways to live and work with meaning and purpose during your later years:

• Think backward, looking through the rearview mirror at your past life. Identify several key, “mountaintop experiences.” Describe times when you felt engaged by being able to utilize key, passionate talents and skills. Look for a pattern that can lead to joy-filled activities, perhaps something that could be pursued today or in the near future. For example, 60 year old Steve P. lost his job as an employment recruiter but was able to walk away with limited retirement funds. Ever since he was young, he has enjoyed working with his hands, repairing things. For him, a job in a hardware store appeared as one of several meaningful options.
• A complementary exercise involves, through the Internet, identifying key, satisfying transferable skills. Use a search engine like Google.com and type in the words “transferable skills.” You will be led to a number of college career centers offering skills inventories to complete at no cost. How can you continue to use these abilities in new ways? Throughout his life, Eric T. thrived on tenaciously pursuing seemingly impossible challenges. A pilot himself, he salvaged a World War II airplane from the bottom of a lake near Pensacola, Florida, shipped it to Seattle, restored it to working order and sold it for a considerable profit.
• Identify your personality strengths by completing a free Jung Typology Test (not really a test but a description of life/work orientation). Available at http://www.humanmetrics.com, it assists you to identify a four letter personality profile such as ISTJ (introvert, sensing, thinking, judging). As an ENFP (extrovert, intuitive, feeling, perceptive), Beth L. typed her profile in Google, whereupon some web sites identified suitable life/work alternatives. She eventually became an actress with a local theater group.
• Visit a library, moving about until you reach an interesting section. What general area of interest suggests a possible life/work pursuit? A retired nurse, Sandi H. found herself drawn to books on spirituality. She eventually found part-time work as a parish nurse.
• Whose job do you want? Live this question as you observe people in the news, in various work situations or as you scan help wanted ads.

Since he was young, Fred B. enjoyed exploring nature. He enrolled in a program to become a certified professional horticulturalist. Today he works in the summer for a local nursery and serves as a trainer in the winter in a wilderness survival program.

Western culture tends to stereotype the years following our retirement as a period of gradual, over-the-hill diminishment. We may begin to slow down physically, but these years can be a time of social, psychological and spiritual discovery. As such, learn to live the question: How am I to live fully the second half of life? For many, doors begin to open, often offering unexpected opportunity.

Jim and Linda Henry are authors of Transformational Eldercare from the Inside Out, Strengths-Based Strategies for Caring, http://www.Nursesbooks.org 2007. They offer a variety of workshops on elderhood, including Igniting Passionate Purpose for the Second Jour reached at jlhenry@aol.com or 253-864-7309.

This article appeared in the September 2007 issue of Northwest Prime Time, the Puget Sound region’s monthly publication celebrating life after 50.