Retirement is a luxury that many working adults hope for after a lifetime of working to support a family. Thanks to better nutrition and the advances in medicine, people are living longer after they retire form their working life. People will be spending more years in retirement than they do in childhood and teenage years collectively. For many people, retirement living brings its share of mental and emotional turmoil associated with deciding how to spend all that time.

Some people see retirement as a time for countless new opportunities to redefine their life and reinvent themselves. Others imagine retirement as a time of painful transition that brings lack of purpose and boredom.

Research has shown that people who stay active after retirement with hobbies, social activities or part-time work, live longer, happier and healthier lives than those who are inactive. Therefore, think about the things that made you happiest before you retired and incorporate those things into your new life in retirement. For example:

Keep working. Retirement doesn’t mean you can’t continue to work. It just means you can retire from a 9 to 5, 40-hour work week to a schedule of your choosing. You can continue part-time doing what you know and enjoy or you can take up a new job that you have always wanted to try doing. A part-time job will keep you feeling useful and connect to your past working life, while still allow you plenty of time to pursue new opportunities.

Nourish your hobbies. Retirement is the perfect time to do all those things you didn’t have time to do, like reading more classics, completing a rock collection or fly fish every river in your state. If you didn’t have hobbies during your working life, retirement is your chance to find some.

Stay physical. Studies have shown that people who keep physically active after retirement live longer and have fewer health problems than those who just sit around. Simple activities such as gardening, raking leaves, and playing golf can make a drastic difference for your health and the way you feel physically and mentally.

Be social. Retirement doesn’t mean cutting off contact with friends, family and other people.  Now that you no longer have the workplace as your social outlet, you may have to put more effect into keeping in touch with people that you know or to meet new people. Take adult classes at the community college or senior center. Become an active member of a hiking club or bird watching group. You’ll greatly increase your chances of making new friends.

Be a volunteer. Volunteering is a great way to put to use the skills your learned doing your working life to help others. There are many nonprofit organizations such as churches, hospitals, children centers, or soup kitchens that are always in need of volunteers to help keep their activities going. Volunteering your time to help others is a worthy cause that can help you feel useful and give you a chance to give back to your community.

These are just a few suggestions for an active retirement. Remember, when you’re in your golden years, the sky’s the limit! Your retirement is what you will make of it. Do the things that you have always wanted to do, but didn’t have the time for because of work obligations. Retirement is the time to relax with leisure activities and doing things that you enjoy.

Leave a Reply