When is a "Quest," "Cause" or "Mission" Merely Self Indulgence

I wonder if the changing tastes in conversation and reading preference I am experiencing in old age are the same as those experienced by other old people. I recall decades ago visiting a long-time friend in a retirement development Florida. His career had been studying social values, beliefs and practices of various groups in society, a sociologist.  He said it pleasantly surprised him in the hours whiled away beside the pool that no one brought up "how important I used to be." Former doctors, lawyers, professors, brick layers and auto mechanics treated each other as equals. 

In the building where I live now there are both retired and young people. Some of the retired play the "how important I used to be" card and others never do. What I have come to enjoy reading is writing done by retired people who wonder if their former passions and accomplishments were as significant as they once thought they were.

The link author traveled as a youth and became a travel writer. He thought traveling was the greatest thing ever and, I suppose, wrote about all the interesting place he went and people he met. With Covid and age, however, he is grounded and has had time to reflect. He wonders now if all the writing he did to tell people about the world helped make the world a better place or if it was merely self-indulgence on his part. 

When retired faculty would show up at coffee in the student union back when I was teaching I would ask them what they thought of the new developments in their field. Often they changed the subject rather than talking about it. After decades of teaching they no doubt knew the parts of their discipline that was useful and perhaps helpful and the parts that might be better off left behind. 

That happened to me. There are parts of economics I had to teach and test students on I was not sure would hold up over time.  It had to be covered so students could move to the next level up the ladder. I had a part time job as a mayor for 16 years and the sands of time leave fewer traces of that as the years pass. 

There is nothing wrong with being proud of one's family and career. But the story of your life and accomplishments may not be the most interesting topic to every new retired person you meet.