The trouble with retirement-life is that you never get a day off
Is your retirement just around the corner? Does staying proactive post your retirement-life worries you? Stop worrying and check out this post highlighting some simple tips to help you walk through your life post-retirement easily. Retirement is a phase which doesn’t come cheap. The prospect of finishing one life to begin another in succession is not everyone’s cup of tea.
If you are already retired, you might think that you have no goals to accomplish. However, as you move beyond the years, your brain and body demand more attention. It becomes important to keep them proactive, so if you have a job, you get to enjoy various mental benefits like:
- People start Appreciating your Efforts
- You no longer Seek an Answer to – WHAT NEXT?
- You have time to learn something New every day
Statistics reveal not every person loves their retirement-life. It is simply because it cuts down their daily dose of the excitement of meeting their co-workers and spending time with them. As per the Aegon’s 2017 Retirement survey, several factors contribute behind retirement out of which being unemployed falls on #2 position. Take a quick look at the image below to get a better insight into the results.
You might correlate old age to retirement, but experts believe otherwise. As per them, retirement-life give you enough time to look after yourself and bond with your family members. Additionally, it gives you time to fulfill your dreams which seemed afar due to time constraints.
Activities to Pursue in Your Retirement-Life
Every day someone retires or is on the verge of entering the retirement phase. If you too are about to retire, plan your everyday routine well-in-advance to avoid leading a sedentary life. Check out these 5 simple activities to keep yourself fit and active throughout the day:
Outdoor Activities are Important
The best way you can keep yourself fit as a senior citizen is by indulging in outdoor activities. Physical labour isn’t the only aspect, but simply spending time with nature also counts. Studies validate the fact as it improves your breathing, and refreshes your inner soul. Activities like walking, cycling, playing football are just a few examples that you can try. The sole motive of participating in an activity is to avoid living a sedentary lifestyle. There are several after-effects of living a sedentary lifestyle that you must look into to avoid any health issues later.
Participating in any of these outdoor activities come with their own set of advantages like:
- Mental Peace ensuring Better Sleeping Habits
- Fresh air boosts your Immunity levels
- Regular physical labour improves your resiliency to physical illness
MEDITATION – Your Ultimate Connection to Inner Self
The above image reflects the importance of meditation in our life. Meditation, as many believe, isn’t any exercise, but a way to help you connect with your inner soul. Today’s cut-throat competition forces us to live a robotic life, so meditating every day helps us regain our lost energy. However, before we move forward, let me clarify one wrong but important notion about meditation. It is not just concentrating blankly, but the truth is:
Meditation = De-concentration
To achieve complete sync with your inner self, you ought to empty your brain from all thoughts. The less you think, the faster you relax and de-stress.
Benefits of Meditation
Meditation is good for you as a human being. Your age, caste or religion has nothing to do with it. Let’s take a quick overview of the advantages of performing meditation on an every day basis:
- Boosts your Confidence
- Relaxes your Brain and Body
- Keeps your Blood Pressure in check reducing Anxiety attacks or Heartaches
These are some prominent uses of Meditation. However, Art of Living created an amazing infographic highlighting some not-so-talked about benefits of meditating. Check it out right here:
If you suffer from tiredness and are bogged down by workload, try Meditating daily. You might not see the results in one go, but stay put under any circumstance. As is said: Perseverance is the Key to Success. So, keep meditating and gradually you will notice the positive changes around you.
Books – Ultimate Source of Knowledge
When you were in school, you must have learned the proverb: Pen is Mightier than the Sword The quote has a sense of meaning to it. It highlights the importance of education in your life. The more you read, the better human being you become. But, over the years, we have seen a considerable downfall in the people who are fond of books. You no longer find people in the libraries buying/returning books as they are busy fiddling with their gadgets. Services like Amazon Kindle makes the situation worse.
You might ponder: How are books related to your retirement? or How can books keep you proactive? The reason I correlate books with retirement-life is that it gives you knowledge. Picking up the right book not only enlightens you but gives you the ability to share your knowledge with others especially your grand-children.
Every book teaches you a new skill altogether, so read more to learn more. Books are not just for entertainment, but they improve your mental ability and keeps your brain active. An active brain helps you sleep better and you are able to retain your memory for long durations unlike other people of your age.
One must note that not every senior citizen is socially active. If your grandparents suffer from mobility issues or loneliness, inculcate in them the habit of reading. Books will allow them to connect with its fictional characters and its plot. Ask them to participate more in the online contests or in book fairs. By doing so, they will bond with other people of their age sharing mutual interests. So, considering all these benefits, make it a habit to read more books. They are the best source of knowledge for every human being.
Painting – Unleash Your Creativity
Post-retirement, the elderly often feel that they have no purpose left in their life. At such times, it becomes important for you to make them understand how important they are. Give them proper love and care to keep their spirits high and avoid the chances of them falling into depression. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is through paintings. Not every retiree is a painter, but this small activity will help them a lot. Enroll them in an art class or make some space for them at home. A paintbrush and a notebook are all they need to unleash their artistic side without constraints.
Your grandparents spent their entire life raising you with good moral ethics. They gave you the best education, encouraged you to participate in extra-curricular activities etc. So, now, it’s your duty to encourage them to pursue their dreams. Help them complete their artbook and motivate them to share it with relatives and friends as it makes them confident and gives them a sense of satisfaction.
I recollect a very famous quote of William Shakespeare:
“A Man with No Imagination has no Wings.”
So, let your grandparents be creative and create whatever comes in their thoughts. The more they imagine, the more beneficial it is for their brain development. If you are wondering How Successful is Painting as a Career? or What are the Benefits of Painting? So, here’s your answer:
- Amazing Stress-buster
- Flushes out Negative Emotions
- Makes You more Expressive
- Improves Your Emotional Quotient
- Enhances Your Concentration and Observational Powers
Joining an Art class will also help your grandparents socialize and make friends. Needless to say, Friends are important for every age group. So, let them Paint, and let them Socialize. It improves their overall personality.
CONCLUSION
Give your Parents your time and make memories with them. They need your love, care and attention just like a baby does. So, don’t let them down just on the pretext of you being occupied. Show some respect to your parents because you mean the world to them. They gave you the best of everything, so repay them by giving love and respect.
Do check out this Forbes article to know 10 things your grandparents can do within 5 years of their retirement. It would be hard to guess what your elderly takes a liking for, so keep your eyes open on all the prospects.
If you have some funny tale of your grandparents the comments box is all yours. It would be a pleasure to know how your grandparents love spending their retirement-life.
