It’s finally time for retirement, and the feelings you’re experiencing as you prepare for the transition can certainly be bittersweet. All your years of hard work have finally paid off and you’re able to relax – but what now? What do you do all day? How do you fill your time? Will your life have fulfillment and purpose without a career?
Follow along below for a list of five ideas for coping with the change that comes with retirement and how you can find purpose in your golden years.
Invest in Your Hobbies
Retirement is typically accompanied by extra free time.
Many people are so emotionally ready to retire after years in the workforce, they don’t anticipate just how much more free time they’ll have.
During this phase of your life, it’s important to keep yourself busy for your own emotional, physiological, and physical needs. Perhaps this would be a great time to invest in what you love. No time to golf or paint or read while you were working? In retirement, that should be a problem of the past! You’ve now got a near infinite supply to revisit old hobbies and pick up new ones.
Reconnect with Old Friends and Spend Time with Family
This may be a great opportunity for you to reconnect with old friends that you fell out of touch with. Additionally, with your new-found free time, you can spend more time with your spouse, children, or grandchildren. If you live in a different state from your family, many people move to be with their children after retiring.
Travel and Immerse Yourself in Other Cultures
Retirement is a great time to get out there and explore the world that you were too busy to see while you were working! Have a country you always wanted to go to? Check it off your bucket list and start filling out the pages in your passport! If you’ve ever wanted to live in another country, or even just another state, this would be a great time to give it a try.
Consider a Part-time Job
If you get too restless in retirement, part-time work is a great way to both supplement your income your income and retain social connections. And depending on where you work at, you may even acquire a useful employee discount.
Stay Active
Exercise is a great way to keep your mind and body active. It also reduces stress and is a great way to make friends through a shared interest. Consider joining a gym or a run club to fill your spare time and keep your body and mind engaged.
Engage with Your Community
Social connections are the spice of life. They replenish us, and volunteering to work with those in your community is one form of social fulfillment. Reconnecting with your family or your old friends is another, as mentioned above, but consider charity work or joining a club to connect with those in your area that aren’t a part of your immediate circle.
There are multiple outlets for socializing you can explore. Consider taking up a class that caters to your interests, a book club, or even just joining a group on social media for a common interest to cultivate social connections.
Retirement can mean a lot of different things for people. For some, it’s more time to do what they already spend their free time doing. For others, it may be a scary idea to have too much free time and not know what to do with it.
Ideally, we’ve given you a list of ways to ease your emotional transition into retirement, and for more resources on retirement, check out AARP’s website at www.aarp.org.
The opinions contained in this material are those of the author and not a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell investment products. This information is from sources believed to be reputable, but Cetera Advisor Networks LLC cannot guarantee or represent that it is accurate or complete.
