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Health & Fitness

Senior Care: 10 Ways to Avoid Rut-Sitting After Retirement

Are you stuck in a rut doing the same old same olds?

Congratulations on your retirement. I know you have been looking forward to this for a long time. You want to schedule your time the way you want to, do what you want to, spend quality time with the grandkids, and enjoy some arts and crafts or other pastimes you haven’t had time to do. But have you really thought about some ways to make your retirement interesting and unique? As a senior you need to take care of entertaining yourself.

Here are 10 things you might not have considered to help you get more out of your free time and enjoy each day to the fullest:

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1.    Do not be a rut-sitter. Don’t just sit there—do something. Why get into a routine and then stay there? You need to shake it up by doing a little something different. Why get your coffee at the same place every day? Try going to a new place once a week. Or you can go shopping at a different grocery store one time a month.

2.    How about being a secret Santa all year long? Instead of expensive gifts, you can give away acts of kindness. Look for opportunities to help someone out in an unusual way. What about adding money to someone’s parking meter before it expires? You could buy the person behind you his cup of coffee. Being Santa on a daily basis is fun and you can make someone else’s day.

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3.    Did you always want to learn piano, but never had the time? What about learning to paint in oils, square dancing or gourmet cooking? Now’s a good time to learn that skill you always wanted to. In the process you will be getting out of your rut, meeting new people and finding other skills you want to learn next.

4.    Remember the first time you got a letter addressed to you as a kid? Remember how wonderful it felt to see your name on the envelope, open it and read something written just to you? You can write letters, real ones. Who should you write to? How about your grandkids, friends, old school buddies? You can even get a pen pal in another city, state, country anywhere. Revisit the fun of getting a letter and share that with someone.

5.    I wrote recently about vacations. You don’t have to wait until your time off to take a vacation any more. If you could go anywhere, where would you like to go? Plan a trip there. Do you want to start with day trips? There are parks, museums, sites where history occurred or some local tourist attractions you always meant to go to, but never did. Make plans, create maps, look at places to eat and then go for it. After you are comfortable with the short trips, you are ready for the big time.

6.    You always said you wanted a dog, but it would be cruel to leave it alone all day while you were at work. So what about now? There are super pets for retired folks like you. Besides the usual dogs and cats, you might enjoy a guinea pig, hamster, parakeet, fish or even a reptile. Animals love to be talked to, given attention and what’s more they will give you attention back, to say nothing of fun. Yes, even fish will give you attention back since you are the one with the fish food.

7.    Who says that you can’t get a part time job if you want? Some cool places to work are book stores, coffee shops, museums as a docent, libraries or even helping at public school libraries listening to kids practice reading.

8.    When was the last time you ate something that you have never eaten before? When you were a kid, your parents always made you “at least try” something new. Now is a great time to sample foods from different countries at restaurants or in your own kitchen. Facebook is loaded with recipes people think are good. You might like them, Sam-I-Am.

9.    Have you ever been a member of a book club? You might think that this is boring, but you will get a chance to read books that you probably wouldn’t have even thought of, you will make new friends and these are two great ways to keep your brain in the game.

10.  Deciding to get out of your rut is a personal goal. Setting and achieving goals like this are great ways to make each day unique. You can pick something as exciting as parachuting out of planes or something as good for you as taking a daily walk. Set any goal you want. As you achieve it, you will be filled with joy and deserve a celebration. Then to avoid rut-sitting be sure to start work on the next one.

Retirement can be dull if you don’t take some time to think about what you would like to do. Think about all the things you can do and the joy you can experience now that you don’t have to go to work day in and day out. Congratulations on your retirement.

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