What does your ideal retirement look like?
You’ve worked hard at your career and perhaps raised a family. Now you’re retired and the kids are all grown up — so what’s next?
Retirement is the perfect time to rediscover your hobbies, pursue new passions and expand your horizons! It’s beneficial to your health and wellness to get out and have some fun. If you need some ideas to inspire you to get out there, here are 5 fun activities you should consider doing during retirement.
Whether it’s a close day trip destination or as far as a foreign land, now is the time to travel. Check off a few of the places you’ve always wanted to see on your bucket list.
If you need more reasons to travel, it has been known to keep you healthier. How? It brings you enjoyment and broadens your horizons, which in turn keeps your stress levels low and provides great cognitive benefits.
Traveling also encourages you to be active and keeps you social. This is especially true if you are traveling with friends or family, but traveling solo can encourage you to meet new people and strike up conversations with locals or fellow travelers.
Do you love to listen to music? Seeing a live show is not only a fun activity, but it also has health benefits.
According to new research from Goldsmiths, University of London, "Regularly experiencing live music is the key to building a long-standing improvement to well-being." In fact, the study showed that seeing live music increased the test subjects’ feeling of well-being by 21 percent, feelings of self-worth by 25 percent and overall mental stimulation by 75 percent.
Always wanted to learn a new language or take up new hobbies? Now is the perfect time to do so! Attend a class at a local university or join a new committee or club. If retirement living interests you, resident-driven CCRCs (continuing care retirement communities or life plan communities) offer lectures, classes and workshops.
Lifelong learning helps boost your memory. Studies show that the more educated the person, the lower their rates of anxiety and depression, as well as other diseases such as heart disease, stroke and hypertension.
So much can be learned from friendships that span generations. Help your community schools to mentor or tutor children that may be struggling in a subject that you are skilled in.
If you are near a college or university, reach out to your alumni association to see if you can mentor a student that is studying in the same career field that you are experienced in. Again, this activity keeps your brain working and also provides an avenue for intergenerational relationships. The great part is, it’s a relationship that both individuals can benefit from.
Volunteering is not only very beneficial to your surrounding community but rewarding to you in many ways. Several studies have found that volunteering has both mental and physical health benefits.
Pick a cause that you are passionate about or find a volunteer opportunity that you would enjoy doing. Give back to your community while enjoying a great sense of personal fulfillment and some health perks such as less stress, mental stimulation and perhaps even lower blood pressure.
Another option to stay active in retirement? Life Plan Communities!
Life Plan Communities are vibrant, active and, in most cases, resident-driven. Resident-driven communities allow the residents to plan and direct the activities versus having a hired activities director. This gives the residents a voice in what activities they want to participate in.
Most resident-driven communities have a lot of committees and groups to choose from. These committees and groups come from ideas the residents themselves have based on their interests. Committees or groups could focus on interests such as art, music, library, computer skills, health and wellness, travel and more. With all of the choices of groups and committees, it would be hard for you not to find something that would interest you.