(I originally had misgivings about posting this reply but from Ron's question perhaps it may have something to offer after all; so I have reworded some of the text to broaden it out for this issue is one of Joseph's most important concern's.):So what should we old ones do?
For anyone facing such later life issues concerning Ron's question it might do well to consider the perspective and outlook changes within the aging process one may be experiencing now. (And you are not alone here; especially when you consider how many "Baby Boomers" are now in process and will continue to be for quite some time to come.) This concerns one of Joseph's points of insight that he shared; (particular in referring to Carl Jung). Fortunately there is quite a bit of information relating to the stage of life perspectives that he focused on throughout his work. This problem for most of us is that the mental and emotional dimensional changes often times take us by surprise and it takes awhile for the adjustments to fully take hold. It's not all just about the body wearing down; but much of our emotional baggage as it were; as well as much of our "undeveloped" potential starts to surface and demands attention and needs to be integrated within the rest of our already overcrowded and somewhat confused mental outlook. In other words this new focus is not concerned with looking back at landscapes outside but turning inward to meet ourselves and what within us is asking to be addressed. (This adjustment stage is part of the "new" journey we are called to address; and it is just as challenging as the other life stages; only the issues begin to change.) Instead of finding out what you want to do in life and making some sort of a career or life direction or raising a family; we now must turn our attention to other matters of concern like retirement for instance. But what is that? Does life just stop and end there? (Of course not!) One of the most important aspects is the assimilation of our life experiences and the "finding of meaning" that demands not only the past reflections; but the demand for "new growth" as well. If you only see loss you will deny yourself the possibility of a new life which can potentially be the best part; but you have to be willing to change to meet it's demands for it is nothing less than the later life quest or call to adventure of the next stage of your own individual journey.
Yes the "evening news" is full of depressing and frustrating issues that we all have to deal with; but "your life" is about what "you" determine it is to be and not what is going on out there in the world at this stage. Not only what is going on inside you but how and what you are going to do to meet the call of these new horizons and requirements. (I might also suggest it is not a simply a matter of taking some classes or living a healthier lifestyle; but inside of you there are going to be issues and concerns that demand to be heard and addressed and it is the working through them that much of this new growth is going to take place. And much of this is what Joseph refers to concerning Jung's: "Individuation" process.)
As an aside for anyone unfamiliar with Carl Jung I would strongly encourage spending a some time looking at the "Jung in the Weeds" thread here on the forums that Cindy so painstakingly put together since so much of Joseph's work is so deeply influenced by his ideas; but that of course is up to you. I can only say that in my case so much of this material truly has been life changing in helping me to make some of these adjustments in my own life and the effects have truely been profound. Going through it takes time and hard work; but anything of real worth usually does. We all have our own paths to follow and this is what has been helping me; and I'm sure I'll be dealing with many of these themes for a long time to come. There is more of course concerning Jung's themes and I offer these only as my own particular thoughts and suggestions so I will stop here for the moment and say no more for the now.
(To sum things up I'll add a few short clips from the JCF YouTube channel I mentioned from a few posts earlier as references to a small portion to what I have been describing. The link of course contains many many more of these clips which cover a great deal more of Joseph's vast landscape of scholarship.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWICd_ZD9MI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKbOY5yg8-A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJu5oWThHx8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP_Sp11dYgE
Namaste