"I see work as something we will do throughout our lives, even though the form may change from one decade to the next. Although our talents usually determine what we've chosen as a career, what we're good at may not be the whole story. In fact, I'm pretty sure that our skills can get in the way of exploring the unknown parts of our lives, both inward and outward. The drive to excel, to be recognized and rewarded financially, is a powerful and time-consuming force that keeps us tied to feedback from others.
"People in our youth-oriented culture seem fixated on success, be it financial or using our training and education for special recognition. I suspect that busyness, speed, and a cult of newness keep us tied to the expectations of others and distract us from the inner work of knowing what actually makes us feel satisfied. Until we can turn off our cell phones and pagers and listen for the deeper currents of human connection, we will keep running, keep watching for external signs of success.
"As our journey outward begins to slow down, the journey inward can pick up — if we consciously pursue generativity rather than simply putting in time. When we have more time and energy to spend on discovery, we can either spend it in front of the television set or turn the thing off in favor of writing and reflecting. The extrovert may not take up journaling or dream work but instead find insight from engaging with different kinds of people than she worked with during her career. The introvert may not start a center for homeless women but find that he can befriend a child with special needs.
"Nothing is ever set in stone. Our postcareer work may look different from what we've done with our skills at an earlier time, in our thirties and forties. If we've spent years in front of a computer, our work now may be physical — gardening, potting, manual labor on a pilgrimage trip. If we've spent a career in the classroom, it may be time to quilt, to paint, to take jazz piano lessons, to be a learner again. And if we've been immersed in creative arts, it may be time to learn the lexicon of numbers and forms. In the generative period, our work will be less defined by outward measures of success and recognition and more defined by an inward sense of satisfaction and rightness."
