Retiring can be a little bewildering. After decades of following a corporation’s rules and regulations (if you worked for a company, or trying to measure up to your client’s expectations) or if you ran your own business, you might feel a little disoriented because you have nothing much to do anymore. You suddenly find yourself in an unfamiliar phase of your life. Now comes the new challenge of learning how to deal responsibly with your freedom. Here are three suggestions on how to enjoy life in retirement:
Enjoy the Benefits of Assisted Living
If you need some assistance with daily living, you might discover that an assisted living facility offers many more benefits than you might have realized. Places like Bel Air Assisted Living provide a variety of options. But it’s important to distinguish between assisted living and a retirement home. Retirement homes can tend to be dull, drab, and unhappy environments. But assisted living is like a community, but with so much more. Besides the obvious benefits of getting help with daily tasks, getting your meals prepared, reduced stress about self-care, and a feeling of safety, you’ll also enjoy the pleasure of an active social life. Many senior living facilities even have innovative technology, like Entertain360℠, a retirement home TV with a selection of the best channels at a lower cost.
Find a Hobby You Love
If you’ve always wanted to learn how to be a marvelous cook but were always too busy with your career to pursue this hobby, now is the perfect time to begin. Cooking your own food from scratch will allow you to make healthier meal choices. If, say, you are gluten intolerant, you can learn to cook delicious dishes like the Gluten-Free Homemade Peach Cobbler Recipe.
Also, consider creative crafting hobbies to take up. If, for example, you like to work with textiles, you could try weaving, embroidery, macramé, appliqué, knitting, crocheting, lace-making, tapestry art, felt-making, or quilting. You could also try your hand at paper craft, woodcraft, or glass crafts. Crafting isn’t just an enjoyable way to spend your time, it also offers some unexpected benefits:
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Crafting provides cognitive benefits: Following instructions on how to design something provides cognitive benefits because it stimulates various regions of the brain.
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Crafting gives therapeutic benefits. Many seniors take up crafting as art therapy–because crafting lifts your mood, reducing feelings of loneliness, anxiety, or depression.
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Crafting supplies social benefits: Crafting offers opportunities to create new friendships because you can spend time sharing your latest craft work with other people who enjoy this hobby.
Some hobbyists even become famous. After carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders for many years, President George W. Bush is now an excellent project painter and has acquired some fame for his paintings to honor veterans.
Practice the Art of Yoga
Exercise is essential to maintain health, and one of the best forms of exercise for seniors is yoga. Yoga can help you reduce stress and mitigate aches and pains. These gentle exercises can pick up your mood, too, reducing anxiety or depression. Yoga can also strengthen bones, enhance balance, improve mobility, increase flexibility, and build strength. After a few weeks of practicing yoga, you’ll notice how well you sleep at night and how much more energized you feel during the day.
Although it’s possible to learn yoga from books or by watching videos, it’s usually best to go to a class to get in-person instructions. This will reduce the risk of injury caused by choosing the wrong exercises, doing them incorrectly, or trying too hard to push your body to perform an exercise that you’re not flexible enough to assume. Many retirement communities and senior centers offer yoga classes. If you can’t find a yoga class for seniors where you live, then sign up for a beginner’s class at a health studio.
All things considered, retirement can be fun. You don’t have to feel isolated, bored, or listless. In fact, if you make the right living arrangements, take up an interesting hobby, and practice yoga, it might surprise you how enjoyable your retirement can be. These are great ways to enjoy life in retirement.
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