I think that the songs really about him getting out of where he is, leaving to experience what life really is all about, because when we're all younger I can imagine that the general idea is that "I gotta get out of here" whether running away from something or running to do something new and testing the boundries of the world. My idea about the whole afterlife is that afterlife means where he finally settles down to carry on his remaining years, home essentially. So he's leaving home (afterlife) to reach another home (afterlife) while living life to its fullest in between.