Dear Ann, I'll turn 70 this year. My dad, before he died several years ago, told me he considered me a failure, a disappointment. I've had two careers and nobody lauds my accomplishments, although I got some praise at the time. Of my hobbies and projects, only one stands as a serious accomplishment. What helped, and continues to help me are three things: Focus on little things in the moment to keep so your thoughts stay in the moment. Take stock of your month to month life (or any other interval) and look for what is fulfilling, lifting or satisfying for you and enlarge their share your and reduce annoying things as you can. Don't set your expectations too high, because this is what life is, everybody has holes in their lives -- a friend my age who survived a heart attack told me he realized, while shopping at the grocery store, "life is very small" -- don't treat it as a big deal. In short, I let myself find new meaning in life, instead of wondering why what used to provide me with meaning is gone. It seems to help. Best wishes to you.