All the good bourbon out there that is waiting for me to drink it. Helping others and there are always others that need help.

42, the answer to life, the universe and everything

Music is good medicine.

I've never bought into the idea that life has to have a meaning or purpose.
Why should it.

Learning, enjoying the sky, plants, others, simply being pain free and able to walk around, cooking and good food.

Life, just life.
Not being flippant, but just that things live, breathe, grow, breed, learn, exist.

Compassion. To know I'm not alone and I'm not the only one dealing with challenges. I always come back to the Wavy Gravy quote, "We're all bozos on the bus."

Whyen I was in such a situation it was my work and my daughters.

I volunteer.
I run a group at the local library a few times a month (evenings), to help folks with the job search. Specifically folks who have a (dead end) job and can't access the resources typically offered during the day, to help them further their career. Invited speakers come to offer their knowledge and help where they can. I also run workshops where folks get some one-on-one time with a career coach. All of this is free and everyone volunteers their time.
I find my meaning in bringing people together, helping others and giving them hope for the future.
It should be noted that I was at a bleak time in my life when I started this group - about 3 years ago now.

One simple word..... Books

I usually turn to knowledge. I find something new that I want to learn and challenge myself with and try to become an expert on the subject. That's how I make my own meaning for my life.

Life IS without externally bestowed and given meaning and purpose. So what animates me is personally determined meaning and purpose. My wife says she would be unhappy without me. My daughter and grandchildren and neighbors and collegues consider me as contributing positive things to their existence. I have promises to keep. I am curious and enjoy sating said curiosity. I enjoy my vocation even as avocation, and so have something to occupy my brain post-retirement, if that ever actually comes.

These things keep me going. If it was just all about me, I wouldn't at all mind the pancreatic cancer diagnosis our neighbor just got. Six months and out. I'm somewhere between bored, disappointed and tired of life and my fellow man, in terms of how it compares with what I desired / chose for myself as a young'un. In fact if it were just up to me in a vacuum and I had the magical ability to relieve her of her illness and take it on myself, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

That guy who self-immolated in Central Park last weekend ... the hotshot activist lawyer ... I don't know that I think he made a coherent statement that will inspire anyone or move the needle for them and I don't know that I'd choose his method, but I totally understood the gesture. He devoted his life to activism for LGBTQ and environmental causes, Trumpism is undoing his life's work, why not go out with a big "fuck you" to the lot of them?

Another avenue I sometimes fantasize about is to get myself a little cabin out in the woods of Maine or someplace and just shelter in place in front of a fireplace reading books until I die naturally. Probably I'm a little too social to be a hermit like that and it wouldn't play out in reality as well as it does between my ears though.

Me. I am my resource for meaning in life.