Many people end up feeling a lack of purpose in their life. This happens even more with the elderly. If you are caring for an elderly adult, you should know more about their feeling of a lack of purpose. The more you can learn about how they are feeling, the more you can help them to feel better.
Retirement
Many elderly adults feel a lack of purpose when they have to retire or quit their job. Unfortunately, there are many elderly adults who just can’t work anymore, even if they wanted to. They may be physically unable to work. Maybe they have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Either way, working just isn’t an option. This can cause your elderly loved one to have a lot of stress. You can help your elderly loved one to find their purpose in something else. Maybe they can get involved in a community event or other socialization.
Not Feeling Needed
As someone gets older, they may not feel needed any longer. They may, in fact, need others more often than they used to. This can make them feel like they have no purpose. It can be frustrating and cause them to have increased irritability. When someone takes care of others for any length of time and then they need others to take care of them, it can be a tough change. This happens a lot for the elderly. If you have an elderly adult in your life who is feeling they have no purpose in life because they can no longer care for others, remind them you still need their help in some ways. Maybe they can offer you advice on something in your life. This could help them to feel better.
Community Changes
Your elderly loved one may have had a good position in the community. Maybe they were a member of the school board. They might have been a member of the church choir. As they got older, they may have become unable to do these things any more. This can cause them to become depressed or feel they have no purpose in life. If your loved one has fallen out of the community in these ways or other ways, do your best to remind them there are still things they can do to be involved. They can volunteer to help out at community events. There might be some small tasks they still can do. They can offer you advice on things. These are just a couple of the things they can do to have purpose in their life.
These are some of the ways that elderly adults may feel a lack of purpose in their life. If you are helping to care for your elderly loved one or they have home care services providers to help care for them, both of you can do the best to help them feel purpose in their life.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3016701/
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