Arrrhhhh retirement life, something you have been looking forward to for years now. After spending what feels a lifetime of getting out of bed and getting to work to provide for your family, it is finally time for you. But what if it is too easy, there aren’t enough challenges or things to do?
As it looms closer are you panicking that you haven’t prepared your retirement bucket list? Perhaps you haven’t given it much thought at all, besides how do you decide what to do in retirement?
Your job has kept you busy over the years, so it is important that you find fulfilling activities to fuel that zest for life. Here are a few ideas:
Get a Job
Take a look at retirement job opportunities, well you have so many skills from all your years of experience. Why not share them? The money may come in handy too. Many retirees use this time as an opportunity to get a job that is totally unrelated to their previous career, something they have always wanted to do. So it’s not such a crazy idea.
Hobbies
How many times over the years have you said “I would love to have time to learn that”? Numerous I’m sure. Your new retirement lifestyle will off you time to do just that, but what will you choose first?
There is an array of retirement hobbies; learning an instrument, cookery, painting, gardening, crafting, woodwork and even metal spinning.
I know that my recently retired Dad disappears for hours on end to work on his wood turning lathe in the garage, and thanks to YouTube he has started metal spinning on his wood lathe too, and is producing some very attractive family heirlooms.
Finding the right hobby can offer physical and psychological benefits as well as helping you to relax and reduce health pressures.
Volunteer
Quite an obvious retirement option that many retirees find very rewarding. There are numerous opportunities including charity groups, helping at a hospital or school, advising small businesses or joining a volunteer group. You can use the government website to find volunteer placements.
Take up Sport or Exercise
People involved in a sport don’t have the worry of what to do with spare time. They don’t have any after the lessons, practicing, playing, researching their equipment and reliving their performances. With a busy work and family life there probably wasn’t time to practice a sport, but with your new retirement lifestyle there is. Many people take up sports later in life when they have time to give it their full focus, so don’t be put off by age.
There is, of course, a plethora of choice when looking at sport and exercise. Some of the favourites are golf, tennis, water aerobics, yoga or a complete gym membership. Taking up sport or exercise also has the added benefits of improved health and fitness levels and the opportunity of meeting new friends. Just make sure you have the correct attire to keep your health in check whether that be a good pair of orthotic insoles for your shoes or protection from the weather.
My mum often disappears (like my Dad) to enjoy a day of fishing, sitting on a riverbank taking in the outdoors. She gets involved in matches specifically for her peer group, and usually wins so I am not sure she has made many new friends, well not ones that are sore losers anyway.
Travel
Many people save for retirement, not only their money but their plans for big trips abroad or long trips to places of interest they have always hankered to see.
Now the time has come, where will you go first? These don’t have to be big expensive trips to far off lands but could be exploring capital cities, or areas of the country you live in that you simply have never had the chance to get to. Why not be adventurous and travel the coast, hire a campervan in cornwall and enjoy the sun setting over the shore. Or, get a boat to the Isle of Wight and camp in the hills.
Have a good think, and add some of the places you would like to visit to your retirement bucket list.
So, there are some ideas of what to do in retirement. Did you find them useful? Are you already involved in some of the activities listed? We would love to know, tell us in the comments.