1572: Find Purpose in Retirement with Sharon Rolph

From transforming childhood trauma into “post-traumatic growth” to helping boomers rediscover their free spirit in retirement, my guest Sharon Rolph shares a deeply personal and practical roadmap for finding purpose after a lifetime of feeling invisible. We talk about how early trauma and a strategy of staying “safe” by being obedient and unseen can quietly shape your whole life—and why leadership, management, and even workplace bullying often trace back to unresolved pain. Sharon describes how she shifted from surviving to thriving, became a behavioral scientist and coach, and began helping retirees who feel lost, irrelevant, or stuck reclaim their sense of mattering again.

https://youtu.be/lGL9PGBIG5A

Sharon walks us through powerful ideas like aligning your life with your values (integrity, responsibility, collaboration, love), treating your vocation as the place “where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” and seeing yourself as a seed that must have a harvest. She explains how reflection, curiosity, and simple exercises—like listing 20 things you love to do or noticing what really riles you up in the news—can expose where you’re out of alignment with what matters most. If you’ve ever battled feelings of invisibility, struggled with anger or frustration, or wondered what to do with all your “free time” in retirement, this conversation will help you see your story, your pain, and your future through a more compassionate, abundant lens.

Quotes:

“What makes me stand out is I've learned a new term… there's post-traumatic growth. I'm the model of post-traumatic growth.”

“Your vocation is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.”

“Never underestimate the power of a planted seed. A seed has to have a harvest, and I'm on tippy-toe expecting a marvelous harvest.”

Contact Details:

Sharon Rolph on LinkedIn
Sharon Rolph official website

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