Author: Kirsten Veldman

You’re retired and single and are looking for awesome things to do. Well, I’ve got you covered. In this article, I share 50 amazing things to do when you’re retired and single. Let’s get started!

1) Follow A Cooking Masterclass

Boost your cooking skills or learn how to cook with a cooking class in retirement. You have to eat every day so why not make it a fun activity and tasteful as well?

And you can find the best cooking classes on Masterclass. From Gordon Ramsay, Aaron Franklin, Thomas Keller to Alice Waters and so many more other world-renowned and celebrity chefs share their skills, secrets, and stories on this streaming platform. You can follow an Italian cooking class, Mexican cooking class, French pastry class, etc – all for one price.

On Masterclass, you can learn at your own pace, anywhere, anytime, and on any device. Whether you want to elevate your cooking skills or want to learn cooking from scratch. These classes are easy to follow and for any skill level. And the best part is when you apply for a class you get unlimited access to an endless amount of masterclasses taught by the world’s greatest – all for one price. Check out a video trailer of a cooking class here and see if it’s something you like to do.

Did you know that cooking increases your happiness? Getting creative and working with your hands eases stress and restlessness, and enhances mindfulness. You feel more at peace after cooking a meal. Therefore a great thing to do in retirement.

2) Find A Date

You’re single. Why not go on a date? Or try to find your perfect match. If you have an eye on someone, ask them out for a cup of coffee, walk around the block, or go out to dinner. If you would like to date but don’t know where to find someone. You can check out eHarmony. The leading dating site for seniors.

eHarmony is for singles looking for a serious relationship. It’s one of the largest and most popular dating sites out there. Their aim is to help you find the best, serious match, using a compatibility matching system, that offers a basic search filter that allows you to narrow down to a fewer list of possible matches bases on age, city, or location. It’s simple and easy to use.

eHarmony offers all sorts of subscription plans, but you can test it out for free and see if online dating is something for you. Because why not?! Maybe the love of your life could be just around the corner.

3) Redecorate Your Home

Now that you’re at home more often you want to feel comfortable. And redecorating your house can be a fun project in retirement and allows you to fall in love with your house all over again.

You can do a remodel project of your entire house, or better start with redecorating each room to not get overwhelmed. And there is a great expert that can teach you a thing or two about interior design.

Follow the online Interior Design class from Kelly Wearstler to get all the inspiration you need for a fun home renovation. You don’t need any experience for this class.

The award-winning designer takes you behind the scenes of interior design in this fun online class. In 17 video lessons, she teaches you how to make any space feel larger and shows you how to choose colors, materials, and textures. And how to work with space, patterns, natural light, furniture, fun accents, and how to find your own distinct style. 

4) Watch Back Old Tapes

Do you have a box with old tapes in your closet or garage?

Now you can digitalize these tapes with Legacybox and watch back all your memories. And share it with everyone around you. A fun way to spend your time in retirement and a great way to preserve your past for future generations.

At Legacybox you can digitize almost anything; from VHS tapes to Super8 film. And don’t worry; they’re in good hands. It’s all converted hand by hand by a team of trained technicians in the USA.

When you send in your tapes you’ll receive your originals plus digital keepsakes that are future-proof and ready to relive. When you purchase a Legacybox you get a welcome guide with simple, step-by-step instructions, safety barcodes for every item, and a pre-paid UPS® return shipping label to ship everything back. Check out Legacybox here.

5) Order Gourmet Meals

Cooking for one isn’t always fun.

So, if you don’t feel like cooking today or tomorrow but still want to eat a gourmet meal that is freshly prepared…

You can now order home-delivered gourmet meals for one at Home Bistro. They’re one of the most successful and popular online meal delivery services today.

They send gourmet meals to your door that are ready to eat. The only thing you need to do is microwave it or boil them for a few minutes while they’re inside a bag. Check out Home Bistro best-sellers here.

6) Win Your Retirement Dream

You can win your ultimate retirement dream experience and support charity at the same time with Omaze. They raise money for charity by offering incredible experiences.

You can win amazing vacations, new cars to lunch dates with famous celebrities. Click here to see all the amazing experiences you can win this week.

Omaze works with globally recognized Charities Aid Foundation America (CAFA), which validates and facilitates giving to charities around the world. Your donation first go to CAFA, and they make a grant to the designated cause for each experience. Winners are announced every Wednesday.

7) Become A Coach

As a retiree, you have incredible knowledge that you can use to coach others and younger people. Maybe you worked in a job where you can become a mentor for younger professionals. Or become a life coach to help others getting their life on the right track.

If you know that you have got a lot of knowledge to share, but aren’t an experienced coach yet, you can follow a certified coaching course at Coaching Training Alliance.

8) Wine Adventure At Home

In retirement, every hour can be a happy hour. So why not treat yourself to amazing wines for a wine adventure at home and become a member of the Wine Awesomeness club and get 20% off.

At Wine Awesomeness you can shop wines by type, grape, or country that are crafted by winemakers all around the world. And the fun part is that with each bottle you can read the story “behind the bottle”, get tasting notes, and delicious recipes to pair with your wines. It can be a fun wine tasting to do by yourself or do with a couple of friends.

9) Learn A New Skill

Learning a new skill is one of the best ways to keep yourself busy in retirement.

According to Harvard Medical School “Practicing a new and challenging activity is a good bet for building and maintaining cognitive skills.“

Learning new things is important to keep your brain in shape, not to get bored, and makes your retirement fun and interesting. And one of the best ways to learn a new skill is on Masterclass.

It’s a streaming platform that offers 90+ classes from the world’s greatest in their field. From Serena Williams, Samuel L. Jackson to Anna Wintour. They all have incredible stories and lessons that they want to share with you.

When you get an annual membership to Masterclass you get access to all the classes on the platform plus the following features;

• Audio-only lessons
• Download and watch offline
• PDF workbooks for every class
• Watch on your desktop, phone, or TV
• New classes added every month

10) Start A New Business

You can be you own boss when you start a new business in retirement.

Take your baking skills to the next level and start a cupcake, cookie, or cake company. Or maybe you have a green thumb and you can work around your neighborhood as a gardener. And when you’re good at house maintenance jobs you can become a handyman in your area. There are endless opportunities for you as a retiree.

And if you don’t need to do it for the money, start a business of something you love to do and know you can add value.

If you’re serious about starting a new business in retirement. Make sure to check out Northwest Registered Agent. They can create the fastest formation online in a matter of minutes. And give you the worry-free services and support you need to start your business in retirement.

11) Do A Craft Beer Tasting

Do you love a nice cold beer? Then you could do a craft beer tasting in retirement. Invite some friends or neighbors over to accompany you.

You can get the best craft beers from America’s best microbreweries at the Original Craft Beer Club. They offer top awarded beers that are produced by small-production, independent, artisan, craft brewers from across the country. And the best part is; shipping is FREE. Join their club and make this a monthly activity in retirement.

12) Get Into Gardening

Everyone is into gardening these days and especially retirees. It’s one of the most popular hobbies in retirement. And perhaps a fun thing to do for you too.

If you want to pick up gardening as your new retirement hobby. Or want to improve your green thumb skills, there is a fun online gardening class by Ron Finley that you can take.   

13) Get A Retirement Job

When you don’t know what to do with your time in retirement, you can consider getting a retirement job. And that doesn’t mean you have to get back to your old job. You can consider all sorts of jobs in retirement that are fun too. And it’s a great opportunity to meet other people and have social interactions on a regular basis.

For example, you can become a dogwalker, park ranger, or a school bus driver. Check out my article: 50 Best Jobs For Retirees if you need more inspiration.

14) Do Volunteer Work

Volunteering is one of the most popular things to do in retirement. Helping others makes you feel good and there are other benefits to volunteering.

You can volunteer at your local soup kitchen, senior center, or apply for senior corps. Or use a volunteering agency to help you find the best volunteer job for you. Check out these websites:

• https://www.volunteermatch.org/
• https://www.volunteer.gov/ 
• https://www.voa.org/volunteer 

15) Have Fun With Arts & Crafts

Lots of retirees love to get creative. Many women love to knit or my mom and mother in law love to do diamond painting. It’s kind of a meditation for them.

When you’re not set on one craft project, you can subscribe to the Arts and Crafts Crate from CrateJoy that sends new arts and crafts projects to your door every month. Each month you can create fun projects and allow you to learn a new craft technique.

16) Bake Cookies

Nothing is better than a freshly baked cookie to enjoy with your cup of coffee or tea. And this doesn’t have to be bad for your health.

You can get junk-free baking mixes to make delicious and healthier cookies, cake, donuts, and brownies at Foodstirs. These are low in sugar made from sustainable, clean ingredients, and no GMOs. And did I say delicious?!

17) Enjoy A Cup Of Gourmet Coffee

The ultimate retired feeling is to enjoy a fresh gourmet cup of coffee in the morning without having to rush to work. Enjoy your coffee and be mindful while drinking. It will taste a lot better.

At Beanbox you can get yourself expertly curated artisan coffee to enjoy every morning. They have an exclusive and award-winning variety of coffees that can transform your morning cup into a world-class coffee tasting experience. Make sure to try out the World Coffee Tour Box with chocolaty Latin American coffees, fruit-forward African roasts, earthy Sumatran blends, and lots of delicious other coffees from around the globe.

18) Write A Book

A lot of retirees like to take up writing once they retire. You can start writing a novel, poems, autobiography or a family history book for the next generation.

If like to learn more about how to write a book you can follow the online writing class from Margaret Atwood. In her online class, she shows you her creative process and how to develop ideas into novels. She teaches you how to write compelling stories, bring characters to life and how to cope with writer’s block. Check out the lesson plan here.

19) Get A Robot Pet

When you feel lonely and want to cuddle a pet, but you don’t want high vet bills. You can get yourself a Robot Companion Pet. You can choose between a furry cat with cat-like movements and purring sounds. Or a golden pup dog with built-in sensors that respond to motion, touch, and your voice.

20) Perform A Random Act Of Kindness

The best way to boost your mood and make yourself happy is by making someone else happy. And for that you can perform a random act of kindness.

For example, give out cold drinks to people on a hot day. Or help an elderly person cross the street, serve one day at a homeless shelter, or insert coins into someone’s parking meter. There are so many creative things you can do to make someone’s day and that puts a smile on your face as well.

21) Go Back To School

Did you know that many colleges offer discounted and often free programs for seniors in the United States? A great opportunity for you as a retiree to keep learning and perhaps earn a degree in retirement.

You can follow shorter-term programs or choose a complete course. It’s all up to you. Here’s a list of colleges that offer programs for seniors. Or contact your community college and ask what senior programs are available.

22) Stay Healthy

You want to make sure you can enjoy your retirement as long as possible. And therefore you need to make your health a priority every day in retirement. From taking the best vitamins, eating healthy meals, doing exercises for body and mind, and sticking to a healthy sleeping schedule. This all contributes to better health. Which is wealth in retirement!

If you want your health to become more of a priority in retirement, you should get Cronometer. A very easy to use app that tracks your nutrition, fitness, and health data. It’s one of the world’s most accurate and comprehensive nutrition trackers with over 3,5 million users. You can try it out for free and see if it works for you.

23) Relax And Do Nothing

A successful retirement is finding a great balance between retirement projects, household activities, leisure time, and relaxing time. So besides all the things you do to keep yourself busy, you all want to relax and do nothing for some time each day. You’ve worked very hard to be able to do this.

Doing nothing and relaxing isn’t a skill that everyone is great at, at first. Read my article: How Can I Relax In Retirement for some more tips on this topic.

24) Explore A New Hobby

Retirement is a great time to explore new things and find a new hobby. You can pick up your childhood hobby or find new interests. If you don’t know where to start you can read my article: How To Get A Retirement Hobby: 7 Tips.

25) Try Out RV Life 

The RV life is for some retirees the ultimate dream. And you can try it out to see if this life suits you too. You can rent an RV for a couple of weeks and visit National Parks and other areas you’ve always wanted to visit.

And if you like to combine work and travel and keep your costs low you can consider working at RV camps via Workamper.

26) Enjoy Happy Hour

As I mentioned earlier, every hour in retirement can be a happy hour. Now you don’t want to become an alcoholic but you do can enjoy a nice drink or cocktail at the end of the day. Invite a neighbor or friend and make it into a social habit and toast to another great retirement day.

At Cratejoy you can get a monthly subscription to a fun cocktail box. In each box, you get three different cocktail recipes, made by top bartenders. It has everything you need to make 12 drinks syrups, bitters, mixers, garnishes & more (other than the liquor). It will make you look at your liquor cabinet in a whole new way.

27) Visit Family

Surround yourself with loved ones. Visit your family members as much as possible. Perhaps even visit the ones you haven’t seen in awhile.

28) Babysit Grandkids

You can help out your kids by babysitting your grandkids a day or more in the week. It will save them a lot of money in child care and you have a fun day.

If your grandkids live far away you can try to visit them for a longer period of time if thats possible. You have all the time in the world so why not make the effort.

29) Become A Foster Grandparent

You can become a foster grandparent and be a role model for other kids. And give them life experience, wisdom, love, and attention. And you can learn from them as well. Being surrounded by young people keeps you young at heart and up to date about all the modern technologies.

And they’re many different programs out there that are always looking for new grandparents. You can google your state foster grandparent program to see what possibilities are out there. Or check out National Service for more information on becoming a foster grandparent. 

30) Host A Game Night

When you love to play games you can host a game night in retirement. Perhaps you have a nice group of (single) friends that love to hang out every week or month. Or invite family members or neighbors over for a fun night.

31) Host A Garage Sale

Go through all the stuff in your house and put things you don’t need on sale. Because a garage sale is a great opportunity to get rid of things, earn some extra cash, and get in contact with other people. Who knows, maybe your next-door neighbor can be a new friend in retirement. And that all because you hosted a garage sale on a Sunday afternoon.

Also, less stuff means less stress. A clean and organized house is a comfortable house to live in.

32) Join A Club

You can consider joining a club in retirement. This is what a lot of retirees love to do. Whether it’s a book club with neighbors, gym club, running club, or tea club. Being surrounded by like-minded people with the same interest makes your retirement days a lot more fun. And having daily social interactions is important to have in retirement. It’s good for your health and decreases the chances of getting lonely or depressed in retirement.

33) Create A Retirement Bucket List

Retirement is the time to do all the things you always wanted to do. And creating a bucket list is a very practical way of finding out what you want to do most with your time in retirement. Check out my article: 101 Ideas For Your Retirement Bucket List to get inspired.

35) Go Hiking

Nature does wonders for your physical and mental health. After a walk in the park or forest etc, you feel much better about yourself and energized for the day. So, whenever you feel down. Go outside for a walk.

36) Become A Dog Walker

Retirees love to be active and many become a dog walker as a new retirement hobby and job. It’s fun to be around dogs, you feel useful, you earn some extra cash and you’re outdoors and physical so that’s good for your health.

With the app Wag, you can become a freelance dog walker on-demand within your neighborhood. People can hire you to walk their dog just like an Uber service. And if you don’t know how to control a dog but like to be a dog walker in retirement you can follow the online Dog Training Class from Brandon McMillan. The Emmy-winning host of “Lucky Dog”.

37) Invest In Old Friendships

Sometimes life gets in the way and you haven’t seen or spoken to some old friends in years. Not that you wanted the end the relationship. It’s just how things go. But retirement is a great time to get back in touch and invest in these old friendships. Perhaps they’re in the same position as you and you can rekindle the “flame”. You can organize a nice reunion, send them an email, or give them a call and see how things work out.

38) Conquer A Fear

The things you want the most in life is on the other side of fear. And because you want your retirement to be the best time of your life, that also means you probably have to conquer a fear to get there. Don’t let doubt get in the way; it never gets you closer to your dreams. Whatever fear you have from public speaking or afraid of heights, try to make an effort to conquer it. Conquering that fear is liberating and gives you more confidence and life energy than anything else.

39) Join A Gym

Join a gym and get (back) in shape. It’s a great place to meet other people and it’s good for your health as well.

40) Take A Nap

Retired means doing what you want, whenever you want. So if you want to take a nap. Take a nap.

41) Give Yourself A Retirement Gift

Have you treated yourself with a nice retirement gift?

Do not spend all your retirement savings on a boat right now, but check out what gift you’ve always wanted and can afford as well. Do you want to know what my #1 pick as a retirement gift is? Click here.

42) Clean Out Your Closets

Whenever you feel bored you can clean out your closets and get rid of all the stuff you don’t need. Decluttering is freeing. It’s removing all the stuff you don’t want in your life and keeping the stuff you do want.

And after cleaning out your closets you can donate it or sell it on eBay or during a garage sale.

43) Date Yourself

Try to learn to be alone. It’s a freeing and empowering experience to love your own company. Because often we want to keep ourselves busy to avoid certain memories and struggles we have. And that’s why dating yourself and spending time with yourself is much more important than dating someone else. You have to live with yourself your whole life, so you want it to be good company.

And there is such a confidence to taking yourself out to dinner or going to the movies by yourself. Just do it and you’ll experience it’s much more fun than scary.

44) Get A (foster) Pet

Thinking about adopting a pet? Below are organizations where you can look online for pets that need fostering or are up for adoption. It, for sure, will keep you busy in retirement.

• Petfinder
• Adopt a pet

45) Start Journaling

Journaling is a great stress management tool. Journalling improves your mental clarity, it helps to solve problems and improves overall focus. With expressive writing, you’re clearing the mental clutter, and you also transform the problem you have from your head to the paper. It helps you to manage change better. Get a journal on Amazon here.

46) Watch The Sunrise & Sunset

Go watch the most beautiful live painting in the world for free: sunset or sunrise. Set your alarm and go to a place with a beautiful sunrise or grab yourself a nice cold beer or glass of wine and watch the sunset. It makes you forget about your day and just enjoy the moment.

47) Go Stargazing

Another free thing to do that makes all your problems in life seem small is watching the stars at night. Go to a dark spot in your area or an official Dark Spy Park that is an area, usually surrounding a park or observatory, that restricts artificial light pollution and has a quality of starry nights. Or visit one of the best stargazing places in the USA:

• Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah
• Mauna Kea, Hawaii
• New Mexico True Dark Skies Trail

48) Unplug

One of the best things you can do in retirement is switch off your phone, TV and computer just be in the moment. Time goes by so fast when we turn on the TV or scroll aimlessly over the internet. It doesn’t make us feel better, useful or worthy. And when you unplug for a couple of hours a day or one day in the week you learn to appreciate the the moments in life more.

49) Go For A (long) Drive

I like to just drive, turn on the radio or music and just sing a long. So I suggest just go for a drive, see where you end up and enjoy the view and blast some good music through your speakers.

50) Create A Piece Of Art

Working with your hands boosts your happiness. Especially when you’re building something creative. You can knit a scarf, upcycle an old piece of furniture or paint a nice painting. Just being creative is a nice way to spend your time in retirement and after finishing makes you feel good about yourself too. You can check out Pinterest or YouTube for fun projects and inspiration.

Recommended Articles

If you liked this article, you might want to read my other articles:

• How Can I Stay Happy In Retirement: 25 Tips From Science & Dalai Lama
• 25 Fun Online Classes For Seniors

Retirement should be all about living your best life and being happy. It’s what you’ve worked hard for all these years. So as a retiree, you might wonder: How Can I Stay Happy In Retirement? In this article, I share 25 tips on how to stay happy in retirement, backed by science and the rules of the Dalai Lama on Living a Good Life. Let’s get started right away!

1) Focus On Peace Of Mind

When we think about happiness, we think about a state of being totally ecstatic. That’s an exciting feeling that we all want to experience as much as possible in life. But we can’t be maximally blissed all day long every day of the year. That’s an unrealistic expectation. 

Life comes with highs and lows. It’s yin and yang. So with all the highs in life, there’s a low. And for you to stay happy in retirement, it’s best to focus on peace of mind instead of chasing after that ecstatic feeling. 

According to the article What Happy People Do Differently on Psychology Today: “Most people accept that true happiness is more than a jumble of intensely positive feelings—it’s probably better described as a sense of “peace” or “contentedness.”

It’s best to not get attached too much to the highs of life but rather focus on experiencing peacefulness. When you live at peace, you’ll experience a much more relaxed balance. Your contentment of life increases, and your happiness is much more sustainable.  

2) Work With Your Hands

Want to stay happy in retirement? Make or build something.

Doing manual labor can boost your happiness. So get yourself a physical retirement hobby or do physical “work,” e.g., gardening, cooking, and stay happy in retirement.

You’ve probably noticed yourself that working with your hands leads to greater job satisfaction. It connects you with your environment and gives a sense of meaning that most technologies cannot.

A great way to work with your hands and improve your skills is to get an annual membership to Masterclass. You can follow classes on this online platform (for any skill level) taught by the world’s greatest. From Aaron Franklin, who teaches Texas Style BBQ, Ron Finley teaches gardening to Marc Jacobs, who teaches Fashion Design, and many more. All from the comforts of your own home and at your own pace. Find out more about Masterclass.

3) Health is Wealth

You can only stay happy in retirement if you stay healthy. Nothing is more important than your health. 

Often we only experience the value of being healthy once we become sick. Don’t make that mistake and make your health a priority in retirement. 

Focus on your health by eating healthily and stay physically, mentally, and socially active in retirement. A combination of different activities and staying engaged is what can keep you healthy. 

Staying healthy will save you a lot of money on health care costs, which avoids a lot of stress about your retirement finances. And an easy step to do is making sure you take in the necessary vitamins you need and support your immune system with all-natural supplements.

4) Sleep Well

For optimum health, we need a good sleep. But also for a good mood, we need to be well-rested. Because the way you feel during the day depends in part on what happens at night while you’re sleeping. And sleep deprivation can cause many health problems.

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, sleep plays a vital role in well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep helps protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. 

Because when you sleep, your body is recovering. It is working to support a healthy brain function and maintaining your physical health. 

According to Healthline.com, a lack of sleep can lead to moodiness, depression, weight gain, high blood pressure, diseases, impaired brain activity, and a suppressed immune system. So when you’re sleep-deprived, it affects how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others because we all know that when we’re tired, we are not in the best mood. 

To stay happy in retirement, you need high-quality sleep. And according to the Sleep Foundation, adults need to sleep 7-8 hours a night. So let me share some useful tips to sleep better.

Avoid Snoring

For you to sleep better you want to make sure it’s quiet at night. Your sleep can be greatly influenced by your partner snoring the whole night. If snoring is a big problem for you or your partner you can get an anti-snoring mouthpiece from VitalSleep that helps you to breathe easily and sleep quietly. It helped over 400,000 snorers get a restful night’s sleep. You can read hundreds of VitalSleep reviews here.

Get A Comfortable Mattress

Also, for you to sleep comfortably, you need a high-quality mattress. And one of the best investments you can do for retirement is getting yourself the most comfortable mattress out there: the Puffy Mattress. It is ranked as the best and most comfortable mattress in America! 

I’ve experienced that with an old mattress, you get back, neck, and shoulder pains. It limits you in activities during the day. So I can recommend anyone to invest in a good mattress. You can read the 5-star reviews and ratings and check out the latest prices of Puffy Mattress here.

Take Helpful Supplements

When you have trouble falling asleep you can take helpful supplement like Melatonin. Melatonin is a sleep hormone. I’m not a doctor or medical specialist, so if you want to learn more about this hormone ask your doctor or read this explanation on WebMD.

What I do know is that Melatonin can be very helpful to fall asleep, and many people are taking this daily to make sure they get enough sleep. I took it for a while as well when I had trouble falling asleep. You can get a Melatonin supplement on LifeExtension.com.

5) Exercise

Did you ever meet a person who was in a bad mood after a work-out?

Exercising is a very powerful way to uplift the mind. Besides the benefits of strengthening your muscles, manage your weight, and reduce the risks for many diseases. Exercising also improves your mental health. 

A study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise reported that physical activity is a good way to curb depression and to prevent the emergence of depressive symptoms. Also, according to an article on Psychology Today, 25 Studies Confirm: Exercise Prevents Depression.

And according to Harvard Medical School: “Exercise reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that is the body’s natural painkillers, and mood elevators.”

We now know that exercising is a great mood booster, but how much exercising is good for you? Well, according to the CDC, elderly people need to have at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity twice a week. And what kind of exercise can you do? Below are a couple of ideas.

Rebounding

A great safe and simple exercise in retirement is rebounding. It’s jumping up and down on a mini-trampoline with a safety bar for extra support. Amongst retirees it has become extremely popular amongst retirees because it’s easy, simple and fun. And it’s a great low-impact form of workout.

The USA #1 Voted Indoor Exercise Mini Trampoline For Adults

On-Demand Fitness App

You can also download the no.1 Fitness App Aaptiv. You’ll get access to more than 1000 different audio and video workouts and get the guidance of certified expert trainers during your workout. From Yoga to Total Body Training there’s a class out there for everyone and any fitness level. You can start a free trial for 7 days here.

6) Maintain Financial Comfortability

To stay happy in retirement, you need to live your life in a fulfilling way with your financial recourses. Because you don’t want to worry about money. Retirement is the time to live stress-free and enjoying yourself.

So, you need to stay on top of your finances. Make sure you have enough money for:

• Your monthly basic needs
• Your fun activities in retirement
• Health Care Costs
• Emergencies

Having a good financial plan gives you a sense of security and a worry-free mind to live happily in retirement.

Read more: 12 Steps: Retirement Planning Guide.

7) Be Social

The single most important thing you can to stay happy in retirement is by staying social. And being social also improves your health! 

Did you know that loneliness is worse for your health than smoking, being obese, and high blood pressure?

This is proven by recent scientific work on the effect of social impact on your health. 

Also, having strong social connections:

• makes your immune system stronger
• increases your chance of living longer by 50%
• helps you to recover from diseases faster
• and lowers the level of anxiety and depression.

This infographic shows the benefits of high social connection and the dangers of low social connection.

It’s proven that social interaction is good for our physical health and emotional and mental well-being. It makes you happier and healthier. 

When you retire, you lose the daily social stimulation from work. That’s why it’s important to seek new ways to be social in retirement to increase your happiness. You can read my article: 20 Ways: How To Stay Social After Retirement for ideas to be social in retirement.

8) Be Grateful

According to Harvard Medical School, research on positive psychology shows that gratitude increases happiness. Being grateful gives people more positive emotions, improves health, and builds strong relationships. 

When you practice gratitude, you focus on the things you already have and learn to be happy with just that. It helps you appreciate where you are in life instead of always focusing on the future.

“Be grateful for what you have while pursuing your goals. Because if you aren’t grateful for what you have. What makes you think you can be happier with more.”

Keeping a gratitude journal can help you to stay happy in retirement. This 5-minute gratitude journal is a best-selling item on Amazon. It’s a unique format that helps you keep a daily gratitude journal. Prioritizing your day, 3 amazing things, inspiring quotes, daily affirmation, end of day self-reflection. 

9) Give Back

You’ve probably experienced it yourself by giving (a gift, donation), you experience a warm and glow feeling. You become happy when you make someone else happy. It’s that simple.

To stay happy in retirement, you can think about ways to give back: donating money to charity, doing volunteer work, or performing random acts of kindness. 

This is even backed up by science as well. According to multiple studies, giving back increases your happiness. It activates regions of the brain associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust. Also, scientists believe that showing altruistic behavior releases endorphins in the brain. These hormones give you that positive feeling. 

10) Embrace Nature

Nature is one of the best mood boosters of all time. 

Going for a nature walk, diving into a lake, or the ocean instantly makes you feel better. It’s the negative ions that do the trick. And you’ve must have experienced it yourself as well. Also, Multiple studies on the effect of negative ions show that it boosts your mood, reduces stress, and boosts your immune system.

And over 100 studies show that being in nature—or even watching nature videos—benefits the brain, body, feelings, thought processes, and social interactions, according to Yes magazine.

For you to stay happy in retirement is to get yourself a daily dose of nature. And it’s very easy to do from going for a nature walk, having sunlight on your skin, dancing in the rain, swimming in a lake or ocean. 

11) Think Positive

You can only be happy when you have positive thoughts. And therefore, it can help to practice positive thinking to stay happy in retirement. 

You can view the mind as a muscle. Just like other muscles in your body, it needs regular training to grow. So you to train the mind regularly to produce more positive thoughts.

A great way to think more positively is to practice mediation. It helps to become more present out of your head. With meditation, you train in awareness and get a healthy perspective on your thoughts and feelings. And more and more studies show that mindful people have more stable emotions and better control their mood and behavior.

Tips To Create A Positive Mindset:

• Start the day with positive affirmations
• Focus on the good things even though there are small
• Find humor in everything
• See failures as lessons 
• Surround yourself with positive people

12) Focus On Your Priorities

“Energy flows where attention goes.”

Ensure your time and energy in retirement are focused on the things you want and love to do. 

Don’t get distracted by meaningless and aimless activities. You haven’t worked hard to watch TV for many hours in the day. 

Get to know the things you want to do in life and what makes you happy. And make that a daily priority in your retired life to stay happy. 

A great tool is to create a bucket list. You can read my article: 101 Ideas For Your Retirement Bucket List for more inspiration.

13) Don’t Compare

It’s very tempting to compare our worst moments to other people’s best moments in life. Especially with social media, it’s hard not to go down that road. But comparing leads to unhappiness, according to Medium.com.

The grass is always greener on the other side. But most comparisons we do are unfair. Everyone walks a different path, and there will always be another person who does it better or faster. 

The study Hedonic Consequences of Social Comparison: A Contrast of Happy and Unhappy People show that unhappy people’s self-confidence is influenced by how others perform on a similar test. Whereas happy people showed smaller increases in self-confidence.

If you want to stay happy in retirement, it’s best to appreciate yourself and others and stop comparing. 

14) Practice Self-Care

Life can be demanding and stressful. And therefore, it’s important to practice self-care to stay happy in retirement. 

According to the dictionary, self-care is:

1. the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s own health.
2. the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress. “expressing oneself is an essential form of self-care”.

It’s necessary to function well in life and is key for boosting your mood and reducing anxiety. It also helps to keep a good relationship with yourself and others. And that’s why you need to take charge of your own self-care and make it part of your daily routine in retirement. 

For some people, self-care means taking a nice bath. For others, it’s exercising, meditating, or going for a nature walk. Find out what activity keeps you sane and in balance and make it a habit to stay happy in retirement.

A great idea for self-care is to do a nice wellness routine. Give yourself a skin spa with high reviewed skincare products. You’re not only feeling better but looking better as well.

15) Follow the three R’s:

According to the Dalai Lama, on living a good life, you must follow the three R’s:

• Respect for yourself,
• Respect for others and
• Responsibility for all your actions.

Respecting yourself leads to greater self-confidence, and respecting others creates better relationships. And taking responsibility for your actions makes you less of a victim and more in charge of your own life. This all leads to greater happiness in life.

16) Spend Some Time Alone Every Day

I mentioned earlier that being social is one of the best ways to stay happy in retirement. But being surrounded by people all the time isn’t necessarily a good idea. 

You need time alone every day to clear your mind and to stay true to who you are. You can lose yourself if you’re constantly surrounded by other people. Spending alone time every day is good to recharge, reflect, and regroup. Advised by the Dalai Lama. 

Make alone time a part of your routine in retirement. You can drink a nice cup of tea or gourmet coffee alone, taking a walk in the park, or take a nice relaxing bath,.

One on one time with yourself is a great way to stay happy in retirement. 

17) Don’t Watch The News

Your view of the world is influenced by what you expose yourself to. If you watch a lot of news, violent TV shows, etc., your perspective on the world becomes more negative. 

According to a recent study from the American Psychological Association, half of Americans experience stress, fatigue, sleep loss, and anxiety because of the news. And over the last 15 years, a lot has changed in the way we have access to news. We can be constantly informed about what happens in the country and all over the world. And that has its downside. 

Imagine if you start your day by watching the news or reading the newspaper. You instantly are exposed to a stream of disaster reporting that will affect the rest of your day. It’s a real mood changer.

To stay happy in retirement, you need to find a balance between staying informed and not exposing yourself too much to all kinds of news streams. So you don’t get overwhelmed or depressed. And take in worries that aren’t even your own.

I’ve stopped watching the news many years ago. I read headlines on an independent and online newspaper, so I know what’s going on. And that’s it. I gravitate towards positive news because that makes me happier. 

18) Live A Good And Honorable Life

Another Rule for Living from the Dalai Lama is to live a good and honorable life. Because when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

Now that you’ve retired, a good amount of time of your life has passed. And you can’t change anything about it. But you can always start today by living a more good and honorable life. 

You don’t want to be on your deathbed and have sorrows and regrets for missed opportunities. If there are things you want to do, mistakes you want to straighten, or apologize for situations in the past, now is the time to do it.  

You want to remember your life in a way that you made the best choices in difficult moments or straighten things out when you know you were in the wrong. 

19) Be Open For Change

Life is unpredictable. 

According to the article What Happy People Do Differently on Psychology Today, the happiest people in life are the ones who are flexible, and they don’t hide negative emotions. 

They acknowledge that life comes with highs and lows. Where you experience all sorts of emotions from anger, anxiety, sadness, pleasure, etc. The happiest people use negative emotions as motivation to better themselves and take action into the life they want. And use positive emotions to enjoy the times when life is good. 

They do not become victims of the situation. They accept the situation and have the ability to mentally shift between emotional states and modify their behavior to match a situation’s demands. 

“The ability to shift mental states as circumstances demand turns out to be a fundamental aspect of well-being.” According to Columbia University psychologist George Bonanno in Psychology Today.

Also, the Dalai Lama advises accepting suffering as a natural quality of life. It’s when you can accept your situation; you can change the circumstances. It’s not what happens to you in life but how you react to it that matters. 

20) Have A Loving Atmosphere At Home

In retirement, you’re at home a lot more often. And to be able to feel good at home, you need to surround yourself with things that make you feel good. Such as music, books, plants, and accessories. Treat your home as a sanctuary, where you feel at peace.

“Clean House = Clean Mind”

Sometimes it means to get rid of stuff you don’t need anymore. Because excess can cause stress. It’s no wonder that more and more people experience the positive effects of living a minimalistic lifestyle. The less stuff you have, the fewer things you need to worry about. 

Many years ago, my family and I learned a valuable lesson on a travel trip to Kenia. An African man (who didn’t own much but was very happy) told my dad about his expensive camera. “I don’t want to own an expensive camera, because then I have another thing to worry about when it’s broken.” What a wise man.  

In western society, we all think that we get happier if we buy or own more stuff, but actually, the opposite is true. 

To stay happy in retirement, you can think about redesigning your house to make it more comfortable and see if you can sell or donate stuff you don’t need. And see if that makes you happier. 

Have a garage sale or follow an interior design class from award-winning designer Kelly Wearstler on Masterclass, you can follow.

21) Be Gentle With Earth

Stay happy in retirement by living as an honorable guest on this planet. 

The earth is here for a lot longer than your short visit. We are guests and can use the earth for our enjoyment. And that’s why we must take good care of it, according to the Dalai Lama and David Attenborough. 

Try to recycle and do as much as you can to live more sustainably. We are now in the position to undo the damage we have done for many years. Check out the beautiful Netflix documentary A Life On Our Planet from David Attenborough with a powerful message of hope and solutions on what we can do to help save our planet.

It makes you feel good when you know you’ve done what you can to leave the earth in a better way to the next generation.

22) Once A Year, Go Someplace You’ve Never Been Before

Traveling is one of the most popular things to do in retirement. And visiting new places is exciting, and it is great for our emotional well-being and perspective on life. 

The Dalai Lama advises to go someplace you’ve never been before once a year. It broadens our horizon and introduces us to different cultures, people. We can see with our own eyes new ways of doing things. 

In my articles, 20 Best Retirement Trips In The USA and The 25 Best Retirement Road Trip Ideas, you can get inspired. And visiting a new destination doesn’t mean you have to go far away from home. There are many new places that you can safely visit just a couple of hours away. 

23) Let Go Of Perfection

“Being Happy Doesn’t Mean That Everything Is Perfect. It Means That You’ve Decided To Look Beyond The Imperfections.”

“Perfectionism Is Self-Abuse Of The Highest Order”

“Don’t Wait For Everything To Be Perfect For You To Decide To Enjoy Life.”

And the list of quotes about perfectionism goes on and on. Also, research shows that perfectionism isn’t the way to living a happy life. 

According to the study, Your Best Life: Perfectionism—The Bane of Happiness by John D. Kelly at the University of Pennsylvania, “perfectionists have a higher risk of eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression. Most perfectionism is driven by anxiety or self-esteem issues, which have been linked to less personal satisfaction and increased suicide risk.”

Working hard to achieve a goal is not perfectionism. Perfectionism is the fear of being criticized. According to John D Kelly, “when a perfectionist achieves success, they do not experience the delight of the accomplishment. Instead, there is the only relief that this time they did not fail. They lead their lives convinced that perfection is the only means to self-acceptance”.

Try to live your retired life, not in a perfect way driven by self-acceptance but in a way that makes you happy no matter what everyone else thinks.

An interesting article for you to read is, How To Get Fulfillment In Retirement: 16 Tips. 

24) Disconnect

I have a love/ hate relationship with my phone. I love the fact that I have access to the world with my phone, but I also am addicted to my phone. I like to check the news, watch YouTube videos, Netflix, and scrolling through social media. Much of the time is an aimless activity and a waste of time just to occupy my mind. 

The Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organization in the Netherlands did a research: Does the internet make us happier? 

The result showed that “The relationship between internet and happiness differs across aspects of internet usage and different age groups. Internet access relates positively to happiness, but the time spend on the internet often relates negatively. Young people (adolescents and young adults) tend to be less happy the more they use the internet, while seniors (65+) profit from having internet access.”

According to the study, spending too much time on the internet can negatively influence your happiness. So disconnecting once in a while can help you to stay happy in retirement. You can try out leaving your phone in the living room when you go to bed at night, or have an internet free Sunday every week and see what happens to your mood. It’s often a habit that you need to get rid of in the first tries, and it gets better over time. 

25) Choose Happiness

My last tip for staying happy in retirement is choosing happiness. Every decision you make in life, however big or small, has an effect on your happiness. And you can make conscious decisions every day on everything that leads to more happiness in your life. 

You can listen to your gut feeling with every decision you make, whether it feels good or not. If your gut feeling says yes: go for it. If your gut feeling says no: don’t do it. Your soul knows what best for you and what makes you happy. Try to listen to it as much as possible.  

To listen to your gut, you have to silence the mind. Meditation can help you make you more aware of your thoughts and feelings. 

You can practice following your intuition with small daily decisions, so you become more comfortable with the feeling of your gut feeling. Because what you will feed, will grow, so if you feed your intuition every day by following it what it says. Your intuition will become more present and easier to recognize. 

What following your intuition feels like:

I should say Yes
My head says Yes
Logic says Yes
Reason says Yes
Friend says Yes

But…

My gut says No, I don’t know why it says No but it says No. 

So…

My answer is NO

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Recommended Articles

If you liked this article, you might want to read the following articles as well:

• How Do You Stay Motivated After Retirement? | 20 Helpful Tips
• How To Live Your Best Life After Retirement: Top 10 Tips
• How Do You Spend Time After Retirement? | 15 Creative Ideas

How do you stay motivated after retirement? Many retirees are struggling with the same question. It’s normal to ask yourself this because retirement is a life-changing event. 

To make sure you keep your motivation after retirement, I created this list with 20 helpful tips. Ready to find your motivation again? Let’s check it out!

Did you know that one of the best ways to find your motivation is by learning new things? I’ll tell you later all about it. But if you can’t wait, I recommend visiting the Masterclass platform. On this unique platform, you can follow different video courses from the most famous and successful people in the world.

It’s one of the best ways to explore and learn new things when you’re looking for some new motivation in retirement. Make sure to visit the website of Masterclass, and get your annual membership for Masterclass today!

#1 Start A Daily Routing

Let’s start with something as simple as a daily routine. Having a daily routine where you get up early every morning, doing some exercises, or other activities helps you stay motivated. 

However, it is one of the hardest things many retirees struggle with daily. When you just got retired, you don’t have to get up for work anymore. You’re free to do whatever you like doing, and thus it can be tempting to sleep in every day and just chill. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great idea to take it easy and relax! But you will stay much more motivated when you have a daily schedule. 

Creating a daily schedule doesn’t have to be complicated. Your schedule can be something like; 

08:00 – Getting Up 
08:15 – Workout / Exercise 
09:00 – Breakfast 
10:00 – Coffee with Friends
12:00 – Lunch

You can plan activities like grocery shopping, social activities, sports, spending time on your hobby, or learning new things for the afternoon and evenings. 

When you find it challenging to create a daily schedule, I recommend reading my article, How To Structure Your Retirement Day? You’ll find some helpful tips in this article that helps you create a daily schedule effortlessly!

#2 Keep Learning New Things

When you keep challenging yourself, you will stay motivated to reach your goals. One of the most easiest ways to challenge yourself is by learning new things every day. 

The online course platform Masterclass is one of the best and most accessible tools to learn new things. The most famous and successful people in the world teach classes in their disciplines. For example, Gordon Ramsey teaches how to make restaurant-style recipes at home, and Ron Finley teaches everything about gardening. These are just two examples of different Masterclass courses. There are more than 80 classes available on the platform! 

You can find the online Masterclass platform here. I’ll tell you later more about how it works, but first, let’s look at why it’s helpful to learn new things when you’re retired. 

The Benefits Of Learning New Things

Learning new things is important for everyone, but especially when we get older, it can be beneficial for our health. According to this article on Harvard Health Publishing, learning new things leads to sharper thinking and stimulates brain activity. 

Many retirees are afraid they don’t get enough stimulation when they’re retired. Which can result in loss of motivation at first and even more serious health issues later. As stated in the article on Harvard Health Publishing, the solution is just that simple that if you keep challenging yourself with learning new things, the chances are that you’re staying much more motivated in life. And thus can enjoy your retirement even more. 

You can find more information in my article, How Can I Keep My Brain Active After Retirement?

Masterclass: The Best Online Platform To Learn New Things

So, back to Masterclass. I genuinely feel it is the best online platform to learn new things. The Masterclass platform is easily accessible from home or anywhere you like. They offer over 80 different classes. It is the only online platform where you can follow a course and get inspired by the world’s most famous and successful people. 

Each class contains different video lessons that you can follow at your own pace. And they keep adding more classes each month! You can get your annual pass for Masterclass now by clicking on this link.

With over 80 different classes available in all kinds of categories, I’m sure you’ll find a course that motivates you to learn new things. Get your annual membership for Masterclass here;

#3 Create A Retirement Bucket List

Have you ever had the thought; ‘When I’m retired, I’m going to travel, and maybe learn how to write a book. Visit some old friends, and start with my own vegetable garden.’ 

Of course, you can change the activities in the example above with the things that suit you the most. The point is, many people have a long list of things they want to do when they’re retired. Somehow they never get to it. I always recommend not to wait to make your dreams come true. However, retirement is a perfect moment to (re)create your bucket list. 

When I talk to people about creating their bucket list, they often find it hard to come up with ideas. But it is actually straightforward. The trick is to not overthink the things you want to do. Just sit down for a moment with a pen and paper, or your smartphone, and write down all the activities you want to do in life. 

When you feel you’ve written down all the activities, for now, you can decide what you want to do first. Talk it through with your spouse, and create a bucket list together. Maybe you need to save money for different activities, and some activities require a bit of planning. But that’s all there is. 

Remember, you can always alter your bucket list. It’s your list, so you decide which activities you want to do or add some new activities in a later stadium. It is all possible! 

If you need some help finding ideas for your retirement bucket list, make sure to read my article, 101+ Ideas For Your Retirement Bucket List. 

#4 Set Goals For Your Retirement

Having goals in life is important to stay motivated. So when you’re retired, you must have goals in life you want to reach. You don’t have to focus on career goals anymore. You can, if you want to, but retirement is all about having the best time in your life. You probably spent enough time on your career, that’s the reason why you can retire in the first place! 

Having goals is different than having a bucket list for your retirement. However, the two can complement each other. If you created a retirement bucket list of things you want to do in your retirement, it’s probably easier to set goals.

I recommend that you focus on one or two goals in your retired life at once. This way, you’ll have enough time to focus on other things that cross your path. Working towards a goal helps you also to create a daily schedule. 

If you have trouble setting goals, you might want to take a look at your bucket list. Just pick one thing that you want to do, and make that your goal. 

It can be as simple as ‘learn to play the guitar‘ or ‘improve my tennis skills.’ For both examples, you can also find helpful Masterclasses to reach those goals. Carlos Santana learns the basics about guitar playing, and Serena Williams teaches how to improve your tennis skills on the Masterclass platform.   

#5 Find Your Passion In Retirement

Many retirees have trouble to find their (renewed) passion in life. Some people even get stressed about not knowing what they want to do in retirement. But there’s nothing to worry about. Knowing your passion in retirement means having more joy, happiness, and motivation in retirement. 

If you’re having trouble finding your passion, you’re not alone. There’s a good chance that you were so busy with your career over the last years, you forgot about the things you really like to do. However, if you want to stay motivated in retirement, it is recommended to find your passion. 

I wrote an article about finding your passion in retirement, with 14 helpful tips. It’s a step-by-step guide to find your passion. You can find the article here. 

#6 Be Thankful

Staying motivated in life and as a retiree has a lot to do with your ability to stay in the present moment. I learned that performing regular meditation exercises help to stay in the present moment. And when you’re not distracted by all kinds of thoughts and other things, it’s easier to be thankful for those moments. 

Being thankful for life as it is. Enjoying the things as they are. It’s such a powerful tool to stay motivated. It helps you with focusing and keep happy thoughts. When you’re thankful for the moments and life as it is, staying motivated is straightforward. You will be much more mindful, which is beneficial to stay motivated. 

#7 Stay Mindful 

So being thankful is important to keep your motivation, and meditation exercises can help with that. But being mindful is more important. Meditation or mindfulness, it’s the exercise of being in the present moment without distractions. And much easier said than done. 

Many people practice meditation or similar exercises to be more mindful, but I feel you can try to be mindful, or have a mindful mindset with everything you do. My boyfriend and I practice meditation almost daily, but we also try to lower our distractions and focus on the things we’re doing at specific moments. This way, we can be more mindful, which helps to keep your motivation. 

Practicing meditation is something that everyone can do. A great and helpful app you can use for meditation Headspace. You can follow different guided meditations via this app. 

We’re talking about being in the present moment as much as possible. And what I mean by that is trying to lower your distractions and focus on what you’re doing. If you want to stay motivated after retirement, it’s important that you create a scene where you can enjoy every moment as a retiree. 

#8 Enjoy Every Moment In Your Retirement

We get a lot of distractions throughout the day. There’s so much going on that we often forget to mindfully enjoy the things we’re doing. Sometimes we aren’t even aware of what we’re doing, and we’re doing things on our ‘automatic pilot.’

I often talk to people when they tell me that they aren’t really motivated to do things. When I ask them why, almost always, they have busy lives, but they’re distracted by the many things they do, that they forget to enjoy the moments. It’s in that situation that you often lose your motivation. 

Let’s set the scene, so you’ll better understand what I mean. You’re probably reading this article on your smartphone, while there are also push messages popping up your screen, and you’re playing a song on Spotify. And maybe while reading this, you also have some other thoughts popping up, ‘I still need to buy groceries!’ or something similar. 

When there are so many distractions while you’re just reading an article, are you truly able to enjoy the moment then? I don’t think so. We switch on ‘auto-pilot’ and just do these things because our brains are used doing multiple things at once. The geniuses we are! Or are we? 

This interesting article on Harvard Health Publishing describes the downside of multitasking. It’s better to focus entirely on one task before doing something different. 

If you have your complete attention set to one thing, it helps you do it better and enjoy it much more. You will get much more satisfaction out of it, and thus be more motivated. 

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#9 Keep An Active Lifestyle

Being active often results in having more energy. And if you’re more energetic, it’s easier to stay motivated. So, an active lifestyle helps you to stay motivated after retirement. But what is an active lifestyle? That depends on the person. 

The concept of being active is different for everyone, but there are basically three forms of activity we can describe. Having a Physically active, mentally active, and socially active lifestyle. You can find helpful tips in my article, How Can I Stay Active In Retirement?

I will also describe the different activity forms in the next part of this article to just easily read on. Let’s start with staying mentally active in retirement. We actually already covered that one at the beginning of the article. 

Staying mentally active, similar to keep your brain active, is best by challenging yourself and learning new things. As we described at the beginning of this article, one of the best platforms to learn new things is by following a Masterclass course. You can get your annual pass for Masterclass here. 

#10 Be Socially Active

Did you know that having many social activities are linked to a more active lifestyle? According to this article on Harvard Health Publishing, having a socially active lifestyle is related to many health benefits. 

However, many retirees struggle to keep up with their social activities once they’re retired. If you’re like many other retirees and your social life was closely related to work relationships, don’t worry! There’s a lot you can do to improve your social life after you’re retired. 

Finding new contacts or getting in touch with old friends and family is one of them. It’s a great way to find motivation after retirement. Improving your social life helps with motivation, but it also keeps you active, which is an important factor if you want to enjoy your retirement. 

You can find more helpful tips about a social lifestyle in retirement in my article, How Can I Stay Social After Retirement?

#11 Exercise Daily

You don’t have to become a top athlete, but daily exercise is essential for healthy aging. It can be just as simple as walking through the park for one hour a day. 

Of course, you can join a sports club in the area and start exercise in a group. This is a great idea actually because you’re both being physically and socially active! 

According to the CDC, as an older adult, you need to get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week. Do you feel that sounds like a lot? It’s actually only 30 minutes a day! 

Being active gives you just more energy throughout the day, and when you feel energetic, it’s easier to stay motivated in your retirement. So why wait? Time to get some action (after you finished reading this article, of course!)

#12 Learn About New Cultures

I already mentioned that keep learning new things is a great way to stay motivated after retirement. But what if when you combine it with some social activities? I think it’s even better! 

A great way to do that is to learn more about new cultures. In the United States alone, you can find many different cultural groups in other states. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn about their lifestyle and how they stay motivated in life and when they’re retired. 

Check out our documentary about the Maoris in New Zealand for some inspiration:

#13 Start Traveling

Traveling is also a great way to stay motivated and learn more about new cultures and places. In recent times with all the development around Covid-19, it’s much harder to travel worldwide. However, I’m sure that there will be a moment in the near future where it’s all possible again. 

Travel is always a good idea, exploring the world, learning about cultures, getting to know new people and different ways of life. It’s what motivates us to keep traveling. We love to explore and find new adventures! 

I’m sure you’ll find motivation when you’re traveling. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to travel around as a retiree, I recommend reading my article How To Travel The World After Retirement?

#14 Find A New Hobby

When you’re feeling lost and don’t know what to do as a retiree, it’s time to try out new things. Retirement is all about enjoying your life in the best way possible. So why limit yourself? 

To stay motivated after retirement, it helps when you have an active lifestyle. People with an active lifestyle often have several hobbies. But some people are struggling to find a (new) hobby once they’re retired. If that’s you, don’t worry! There’s a lot you can do to find a hobby you like.

To give you some inspiration you can start a Garden Tower Project or start knitting with Knitcrate: a box with new knitting projects and material send to your door monthly. Another cool thing to do in retirement is to create a Legacybox and digitalize all your (old) media to reminisce on the good old times. And if you like a nice cold beer you can make your own beer with a Beer Making Kit from the Brooklyn Brew Shop. You just have to start somewhere and finding your retirement hobby becomes a lot easier.

Masterclass

Start with trying things. It’s just that simple. A great way to explore new things is by following video courses via Masterclass. You’re not only learning new things via that platform, but you can also figure out quickly what you like and what you don’t like to do. Masterclass offers courses with the most famous and successful teachers in the world.

When you’re looking for extra ideas to find a new hobby, make sure to read my article, 30 Best Hobbies In Retirement.

#15 Stay Focused On A Healthy Lifestyle 

I already mentioned it a few times, focusing on your lifestyle helps to stay motivated after retirement. When you make sure you’ll get enough daily exercise, have an active lifestyle, and try to be in the present moment as much as possible, you’re probably getting a long way. 

But let’s not forget that it’s also important that you focus on what you eat and drink. When you’re eating unhealthy most of the time, you probably lose energy very quickly. Which results in a lack of motivation. And that’s just something we want to avoid, right?

Have you ever heard of the Blue Zones in the world? Areas where people live much longer than average. They have the most centenarians (people who reach 100 years or older) in the Blue Zones. I find it very inspirational to look at their lifestyle and stay motivated to follow a healthy lifestyle myself. 

You can read more about the Blue Zones in this book, that you can buy on Amazon; 

#16 Get A Parttime Retirement Job

Many retirees miss their daily routine to go to work once they’re retired. If that’s the case for you, it might be interesting to find a part-time retirement job. Having a retirement job is not only beneficial financially, but it also helps with an active lifestyle. Which is an important factor to stay motivated after retirement. 

When you’re looking for inspiration about retirement jobs, make sure to read my article, 50 Best Jobs For Retirees. 

#17 Know Your Finances

It might sound like one of the most logical things on this list, to know your finances. However, many retirees have no idea about their current financial situation. 

Knowing your finances is essential because it helps you create the lifestyle you want. It avoids stress and unnecessary surprises when you know your current financial situation. 

When you have any doubts about your retirement finances, make sure to talk to a financial advisor. You can easily find on via this article on Nerdwallet.

#18 Volunteer In Your Community

When you have trouble finding your motivation after retirement, there’s also a good chance that you miss fulfillment in your life as a retiree. One of the best ways to find fulfillment is by helping others. And what better way to do that than by volunteering. 

Volunteering has many benefits. It not only helps to stay active and stay motivated. It’s also a way to interact with younger generations, stay socially active, and for many people to (re)find their purpose in life. 

If you want to start volunteering, I recommend reading my article, Why Do Retirees Volunteer? Where you can find some helpful information. 

#19 Start A Retirement Diary

Retirement is a special time in your life. You probably worked for over 25 years or longer, and now it’s time to enjoy your time not working. Explore life in a new way. 

We already discussed the importance of being consciously in the moment as much as possible. It can help to start a diary so that you’re getting aware of the things you’re doing in your retired life. Writing a diary is also a great way to stay motivated. When you write down all the things you do, you probably learn that you have a busy and fulfilling life. 

It doesn’t have to be challenging to start a diary. You can just start writing down the things you do on a day. But if you need some help with writing, you might want to check out the Masterclass writing courses. Get your annual membership for Masterclass here. 

#20 Let Go Of Your Grudges

Last but not least, on this list of helpful tips to stay motivated. Let go of your grudges. Having grudges create negative energy. And when you have a lot of negative energy, you’ll lose your motivation. 

So my advice is to focus on the positive things that give you energy. Let go of the grudges you still have. It can help to think for yourself, ‘why am I angry about this?’ or ‘How is this beneficial to me?’ 

Asking yourself these questions helps you quickly focus on the positive things in your life. So that you can stay motivated after retirement! 

Recommended Articles

These articles can also be interesting for you; 

• Why Do Retirees Volunteer?
• How To Life Your Best Live After Retirement?
• How Do You Spend Your Retired Life?

Whether your retirement date is coming closer or you’re already retired, you might wonder: How do I live my best life after retirement? No need to look further! I have the top 10 tips to help you live your best life in retirement.

1) Live In The Present

You can’t enjoy life when you’re either thinking about the past or worrying about the future. So to live your best life, you need to live in the now and be present. 

It doesn’t help you any further when you have thoughts about the past or future. You can’t change it by constantly thinking about it. The only experience you can change is now. 

The following exercises and tools will help you get or stay in the present moment. 

• You can practice Meditation (use the practical & simple app Headspace), where you focus on your breathing.
• You can do Yoga or Tai Chi. These are peaceful sports that will help you to be more mindful. 
• You can go on a mindful nature walk where you try to focus your attention on your feet, hitting the floor, or watch nature’s beauty. 
• Exercising is great for the mind and helps you let go of anything that is bothering you. So go for a swim, hike, bike ride, play golf, etc.  
• Enjoy a mindful meal. Cook your favorite meal and eat as if every bite is your last. And have no other distractions (TV, Phone, Book, Newspaper)

Paying attention and focusing on your body’s physical sensation will help you get out of your mind and into your body. Of course, your mind will wander off frequently, but you have to be aware of it, notice it and try to refocus again on the present moment. The more you practice being mindful during the day, the easier it becomes.

2) Prioritize Your Health

Your health is your wealth. It’s the most important thing in the world. Because if you’re not healthy, there is no way you can enjoy your retirement. 

So when you want to live your best life in retirement, prioritizing your health is key. Make sure you eat healthily, because you are what you eat, so anything you put in your mouth has consequences for your health. 

Make an effort to cook your meals. And if you’re not sure how to cook or want to be better at cooking, apply for an online cooking class on Masterclass. You can learn new cooking skills at any time, anywhere at your own pace from the world’s greatest chefs.

Also, exercising regularly, keeping your brain active, and stay socially connected are additional ways to set yourself up for long-term success in retirement. 

Especially staying socially active is crucial to living a happy retired life. Many people underestimate the power of having daily social interactions. If you do not expand your social circle after you retire, you can experience loneliness and even depression in retirement. 

You can read more about fun ways to stay socially active in my article: 20 Ways To Stay Social After Retirement. 

3) Keep Learning New Things

Living your best life in retirement means experiencing new things. Your life doesn’t get excited if you keep doing the same stuff every day. Getting out of your comfort zone frequently is the best strategy for living life to the max in retirement. It’s the place where the magic happens.

That doesn’t mean you have to jump out of an airplane every day. You can get a new retirement hobby or apply for fun classes. 

Learning new things is a great way to keep your brain active, stay socially connected, and to make sure you live your best life in retirement. And I think one of the coolest things you can gift yourself is an annual Membership to Masterclass.

It’s a streaming platform that makes it possible for anyone to watch or listen to hundreds of video lessons taught by the most successful and famous teachers in the world.

From Anna Wintour teaches Creativity and Leadership, Steve Martin teaches Comedy, Ron Finley teaches Gardening to Samuel L. Jackson teaches Acting. The platform has so such a variety of lessons on all sorts of topics. And you can learn at your own pace and in your own time. So you have all the freedom in the world and a fun everyday activity.

Get the latest prices and learn about cool online classes on Masterclass here;

4) Have A Routine

Retirement is the time to relax. And having no obligations is the greatest feeling of freedom you can experience. So, I can imagine you don’t want to have a routine in your retirement honeymoon stage. 

But after a while, it’s important to have some routine in retirement. Without a routine, you can feel lost, and with a routine, you have something to hold onto. It creates momentum that keeps you on track of living the best life.

You can enjoy relaxation time better when you have been active in other areas that day. I always advise people to replace their work routines with new routines once they retire. It helps them make the most out of your retirement day and not waste time on aimless activities such as watching TV or being on social media many hours. 

Try to structure your retirement day and find a nice balance between household activities, leisure, and relaxation time. 

5) Set Goals

Without goals, where would your life go? 

To move forward in life, you need to set goals. 

During your career, you’ve probably always had goals and targets to pursue. Even getting retired was a life goal itself. And after retirement, that doesn’t change. Instead of work-related goals, you now have to come up with new life (leisure) goals. These goals can be either big or small.

Having a goal helps you prioritize your retirement time. Living your best life in retirement means you need to dedicate most of your time doing the things you love to do. And for that, you need to know what your next goal in life is. It’s the reason why you get up every morning. 

When you have trouble coming up with a new life goal, you can start small. Start with easy daily goals you can accomplish, and once you get the hang of it, you will figure out what next and bigger goal you want to achieve in retirement. 

Check out this article to learn about the importance, benefits, and value of goal setting.

6) Get High-Quality Sleep Each Night

Want to live your best life in retirement during the daytime? Make sure you sleep like a king or queen during the night!

You can only live out your best life when you’re well-rested. And good quality sleep is essential for your body and mind to recover fully and start your day refreshed and energized to do all the things you want. 

According to the Sleep Foundation, adults need to sleep 7-8 hours a night. And according to Healthline.com, a lack of sleep can lead to moodiness, depression, weight gain, high blood pressure, diseases, impaired brain activity, and a suppressed immune system.

So a good night’s sleep has a huge impact on your daily life. That’s why one of the best investments you can do for retirement is getting yourself the most comfortable mattress out there: the Puffy Mattress. It’s ranked as the best and most comfortable mattress in America!

You can read the 5-star reviews and ratings and check out the latest prices of Puffy Mattress here.

For you to sleep better you want to make sure it’s quiet at night. Your sleep can be greatly influenced by your partner snoring the whole night. If snoring is a big problem for you or your partner you can get an anti-snoring mouthpiece from VitalSleep that helps you to breathe easily and sleep quietly. It helped over 400,000 snorers get a restful night’s sleep. You can read hundreds of VitalSleep reviews here.

7) Have A Fun Plan For Retirement

Many retirees regret that they didn’t have something to retire to. A lot of people retire without a fun plan for their retirement days. 

But retirement planning is so much more than just planning for the financial part. Many people forget to prepare for this new lifestyle, and when reality kicks in, they are often overwhelmed. So to live your best life, you need to know what you want to do in retirement. 

And creating a bucket list is a very hands-on and practical tool to write down what you want to do in retirement. In my article 101+ ideas for your retirement bucket list, you can get inspired. And read about how to create your retirement bucket list and not get overwhelmed by all the options and possibilities.

A bucket list should not be just a checklist that you tick off. Your list must contain items with deeper meaning when you want to experience your best life after retirement. You want to feel fulfilled. 

Doing something fun brings you pleasure, which is short-lived. Getting fulfillment is something deeper than that, and the feeling will last much longer. It’s an ongoing life journey of self-discovery, growth, and contentment with your position in life. And in my article: How To Get Fulfillment In Retirement, I share 16 helpful tips. 

Another great way to figure out what you want to do in retirement is to tiptoe into retirement. When you still need to work for a couple of years, you can take a couple of months off work to practice living your retirement before you officially retire. It allows you to try retirement out for a bit. You can try out new hobbies, interests, classes, travel, and see how you react to this new lifestyle. Perhaps it gives you a new insight into what you like and dislike. Because you can only know if you like something if you did it, 

Another way is to work parttime in the last couple of years. So you can slowly transition into retirement. The switch to retired life isn’t that all of a sudden, and you’re more aware of how you want to spend your retirement days once your official retirement day is there.

Read more: 14 Tips: How To Find Your Passion In Retirement

8) Maintain Financial Comfort

You don’t want to worry about money in retirement. It’s time to live stressfree, and that’s why you want to maintain financial comfort in retirement. And that means that you live your retired life in a fulfilling way with the financial recourses you have. 

In short, your financial plan needs to align with your fun plan because you don’t want to retire with a head filled with dreams without being able to afford it. 

Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case for everyone. A lot of retirees need to earn extra money to make ends meet. Although a retirement job can be a lot of fun, you want to do it for the right reasons. Preferably more for the joy it brings you than instead of the money it pays.

Being financially comfortable gives you a sense of security and a worry-free mind to live the life you want in retirement. So make sure you have enough money for:

• Your monthly basic needs
• Your fun plan
• Emergencies

Check out my Retirement Planning Guide: 12 Steps for more tips about financial retirement planning.

9) Have A Positive Mindset

For sure, you envisioned your retired life. And hopefully, it’s going to be everything that you’ve dreamed it would be.

But life can throw unexpected curve balls. And to live the best life after retirement, you need to be flexible to changes. Adapt to it and create a new way to live your best life in retirement. And that is much easier with a positive attitude because your life is as good as your mindset.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Chase your dreams but also have an open mind that things can work out differently. Have a positive attitude, and you can live your best life in retirement, even when things don’t work out as planned. 

Be grateful for what you do have and never let the things you want to make you forget the things you have. 

Tips for a positive mindset:

• Start the day with positive affirmation in the mirror. Say something kind to yourself in the mirror every day. 
• Focus on the good things even though there are small. And if you caught yourself focusing on something negative. Replace that one thought with at least two positive thoughts.
• Find humor in everything. Even when something bad happens. Find the fun in it to turn the energy around.
• See your failures as lessons. Each time you think you failed, then come up with at least two lessons you can learn from it. The most successful people failed over and over again. The ones that learned from their mistakes are the ones that succeeded. 
• Surround yourself with positive people. Your vibe attracts your tribe. With a positive attitude, you attract positive people. Also, with negative people around you, you can’t create a positive mindset. 

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10) Enjoy The Simple Things In Life

You can improve your life in a big way when you can enjoy the little things and simple moments in life. 

Most of the time, we are focused on the big events in our lives, from birthdays, child-birth, weddings to retirement. We get excited about these events with good reason, of course. But they only take up such a small amount of time in our lives. The vast majority of our lives, small events happen from moment to moment. 

When you miss out on enjoying the little things, you miss out on enjoying so much of your life. And when you always want more instead of enjoying the simple things you can lead a very unsatisfying life. It’s often we reminisce about the little moments in our lives instead of the big ones. 

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you look back and realize they were the big things.”

Recommended Articles

If you liked this article, you might be interested in the following articles:

• How Can I Relax In Retirement? A Helpful Guide
• What Do I Need To Know Before I Retire? | Complete Guide
• How Do You Celebrate Your Retirement? 30 Awesome Ideas