About this idea that if you don’t have some connection with spirituality as you age you’re screwed: It doesn’t require religion, although that works for some people. A little thought and logic can get you to that connection. And really basic science actually supports you!
The part about a little thought: The creative intelligence in every living thing is obvious. All the information that’s needed to create the tallest redwood tree is contained in a tiny seed, and in addition to containing the information, the seed knows what to do with it. Every fully formed thing began as unformed and it somehow knows how to become its full identity.
The really basic science part: Current scientific thought offers that about 14 billion years ago there was a “Big Bang” and everything we can see, everything we know, began as a tiny, super dense, super hot, point — smaller than a speck of dust — that suddenly burst out into millions of pieces; as space, time, energy, matter. Everything started then, and, even today, it all continues to expand.
This mysterious creative energy is the universal reality, the source of everything, including life. Our connection to it is immediate and personal, as we each are expressions of that creativity. No two snowflakes, no two people, alike.
The logic part: This is our connection. We are all together in this life. And finally, science’s Law of Conservation of Energy says that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be made to change form. Spirituality would say that you, then, cannot be destroyed, only made to change form.