ABSTRACT
After all is said and done, where do we go from here? It becomes apparent, from listening to women speak about their later years in life, that the ability to continue to be the creative author of one’s life and narrative is paramount to finding purpose and meaning. The ability to feel that one can continue to give, receive and be a significant contributor in one’s personal world and the world at large has a staggering effect on feeling vital and included. But how can this be achieved? This chapter conceptualizes changes that need to be made on the intrapersonal level, the interpersonal level and the societal level in order to conceptualize anew this stage of later life. While modern medicine has enabled individuals to live longer, this medical feat has not been matched by society’s ability to redefine the later years. Seeing people entering their seventh and eighth decade as expendable, over-the-hill, and no longer viable members of society, when they may live into their ninth decade and beyond, can have devastating consequences on multiple levels of human existence.
