Having fulfilling hobbies in retirement is essential to our health, wellness and happiness. Check out all the reasons you should keep up with your hobbies (or start new ones) later in life.
Reduces Stress
Life can be stressful at any stage. Having hobbies that we enjoy is a great way to decompress and relax from the tensions of life.
Enjoying meaningful activities is vital to a well-balanced life and should be explored by everyone, especially during retirement.
Enjoying calming hobbies like meditation, reading or birdwatching are just a few of the many hobbies to explore for relaxation.
Promotes Physical Activity
Having hobbies that keep you active later in life is the best way to stay healthy, flexible and mobile for as long as possible.
Enjoying physical hobbies like tennis, hiking, yoga, pickleball (to name a few) can keep your joints loose, your muscles pumping and your flexibility on point!
Check out our list of 15 Hobbies for Fitness and Weight Loss to keep yourself moving as you age with grace!
Keeps You Sharp!
Keeping up with or starting new hobbies later in life is a great way to stay cognitively sharp.
Daily cross-word puzzles, word searches, sudokus or mazes is a simple way to start. Make it a habit to keep your mind working for you.
Learning is a life-time hobby!
Discover New Interests
Another benefit of exploring new hobbies in retirement is discovering new passions!
With retirement comes more hours during the day to fill with your own interests, but what if you don’t have many? Now is the perfect time to try the things that you have never had time to try before.
Always wanted to try pottery but never had the time? Take a pottery class at a local community center!
Interested in photography but never had the time? Get yourself a camera and start snapping photos!
At the turn of the century, people spent an average of 1.2 years in retirement. Today people spend an average of 14 years, or 20% of their lives in retirement.
(Seligman, 1994; Vierck, 1990)
Share Your Knowledge
You have a lifetime of knowledge to share with the world!
Embrace your hobbies and passions and share them with the youth.
Join a local club, volunteer at a local community center and teach children the hobbies that you have mastered over the years.
Your knowledge and expertise is valuable; sharing it is a great way to spend your time during retirement.
Check out these 7 Awesome Websites to Teach Your Hobbies Online and spread your wisdom to an even wider audience.
Socialization
Having consistent hobbies in retirement that you enjoy is a great way to get out of the house and socialize with others.
Having a routine and regular places you go will increase your odds of seeing familiar faces and making new connections.
Joining a social club of likeminded people with similar interests is ideal for socialization and connection.
Check out our list of Hobby Ideas for Meeting New People and start a new social hobby today.
Looking to join a new club or organization? Check out MeetUp.com to find a group that interests you!
Feelings of Productivity
“In leisure, as in work, a difficult task done well is a source of pride.”
Steven M. Gelber, Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America
With new found free-time in retirement, finding things to keep us productive is important!
Completing passion projects and spending your time building, creating and learning in retirement is more important now than ever!
Boosts Confidence & Self-Esteem
A satisfying leisure experience may help people to see retirement as a positive challenge, rather than a threat, and facilitate the planning of leisure in retirement, which has been found to be associated with positive retirement expectations and self-efficacy (Taylor-Carter, Cook, & Weinberg, 1997).
Having hobbies in retirement are important for boosting confidence and self-esteem.
The feeling we get from “working” on a hobby project, completing something important to us and seeing growth in a hobby is essential for confidence, happiness and life-satisfaction.
