I was speaking with a recently retired widow. She was telling me about her past week. While I wasn’t surprised by how busy she was. I was really surprised by how diverse her activities were.
The reality is that retirement is not the cessation of all activity. In fact, it’s most often an increase in activity!
And the beautiful thing? It’s all up to you as to what those activities are!
Sometimes those I’ve worked with retire with several hobbies. Sometimes they retire with one big hobby. Occasionally, someone retires without a major hobby. I can promise you that you will want several to keep your mind and body doing great throughout retirement.
How can you decide on and add new activities, though? Here are 5 tips for starting a new hobby:
Use nostalgia to find something you love. Many people hark back to the old days when they enjoyed painting, playing tennis, or woodworking. Or they even think about things they always wished they had time to do. That’s a great place to start for ideas.
Connect with local groups. You can join plenty of groups for evening or daytime classes or gatherings. That can help you decide which you like the most.
Let go of expectations. Too many pick up a new hobby and drop it because it isn’t everything they imagined and more. Take painting, for example. You will not be Monet on your first outing. In fact, you may never paint that way.
Find a friend to join you. And, honestly, you can help each other over the hump of difficulties in starting a new hobby.
Always start small. If you want to take up woodworking, don’t start with building that new china cabinet. Maybe start with a birdhouse.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but these ideas have helped many of the individuals I’ve helped enter and enjoy their retirement years.
What hobbies are you starting?
