A Meaningful Life: Retirement Insights for Active Seniors

The good news for most of us is that we are all living longer, which means that when you retire you are not quite ready to put your feet up on a regular basis, as you have plenty of life left in you and energy to expend.

Unfortunately, immortality is not an option, so you will need to engage with some funeral planners and get things sorted on that front, but in terms of enjoying an active retirement, there are plenty of options and time on your side, to ensure that you achieve a meaningful and purposeful time in your senior years.

Continue and add more hobbies

If you have a favorite pastime that you enjoy doing, there is no reason why you can’t continue with that hobby into retirement, even if your physical abilities mean that you might have to make some adjustments.

There is no question that if you can remain physically active and enjoy walking, playing golf, swimming or whatever else it is that you already gained a lot of pleasure from, it makes perfect sense to carry on into retirement.

In addition, now that you have some more time on your hands, look at adding some new hobbies. If you always fancied having a go at learning some ballroom dancing moves or seeing whether you can craft a vase by learning some pottery skills, why not consider adding some new hobbies, as you will learn some new talents and probably make some new friends along the way.

Looking after your gray matter

One of the key factors in ensuring that you enjoy a stimulating and rewarding retirement, is to feed your brain and keep active intellectually.

There are a number of ways to do this. Immersing yourself in plenty of culture will certainly make a positive contribution, so plan some trips to a few museums and art galleries, and look to see if there is a local historical society or similar organizations, where you can keep on learning and challenging yourself throughout your retirement.

Playing games like bridge, chess and poker can tick the right boxes in this respect too, plus you will get to do plenty of socializing at the same time as challenging your brain, so it is good news all round.

Plan a road trip

A proper road trip means planning a route across a number of different states and spending a few weeks or months visiting loads of places that might even be on your bucket list.

Many of us dream of taking the ultimate road trip, but struggle to get around to doing it as a result of work and family commitments, but now you are retired, what are you waiting for?

You will have your own ideas of where you want to go on your road trip. Whether it is winding your way through Utah or taking in the unique atmosphere and views of the Pacific coast in California, you now have the perfect opportunity to create plenty of talking points and new memories, by embarking on that road trip that you have always wanted to do.

Leah Hutchinson has worked as a community nurse for several years, and visiting the elderly is a key part of her job. Her articles touch on elder care topics, and bettering the lives of our elderly family, friends and neighbours.