FUN THINGS TO DO

WHEN YOU RETIRE

Just cause you're old doesn't mean you can't get up and do something different.
— Jodina (at 61 year old, a lead vocalist in the California punk band One Foot in the Grave)

If you look at the retirement activities that most American retirees pursue, they are boring, boring, boring. To be sure, the leisure activities in my retirement living plan will be different from that of the typical American's.

According to a recent national survey of 800 American adults age 60 to 74 conducted for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, taking care of the yard and spending time with grandchildren were statistically tied for top billing among married/partnered men while spending time with grandchildren was the clear favorite among married/partnered women.

Main Retirement Activities for American Male Retirees

Main Retirement Activities for American Female Retirees

If this is all that there is to retirement living, then let me go back to work until I die. But wait! This is why I wrote How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor:

I also wrote another retirement book called 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement, which was published in Spanish, French, and Korean but not in English. An article from the book follows after this item about Bingo Games.

Bingo Games 

Another way to enjoy your retirement is to do communal activities like playing some bingo games or bridge or even volunteer and be active in your local community.

The idea is to be active and social and not sit around the house in front of the TV and become a couch potato or pumpkin or any kind of vegetable.

 

15 Fun Things That Agatha Christie Enjoyed Which Make Great Retirement Activities 

When the majority of people get my age, once they retire and get Social Security they lay on the couch and do nothing. The next thing you know, they're not with us any more.
— 77-year-old Retiree August Gonsoulin

Retirees have two choices: choose the couch — or choose life.
— Jane McBride

If you can't think of any retirement activities to enjoy, you haven't spent enough time getting to know yourself. It is never too late for you to develop a new interest, or learn a new sport or skill. What you should do first is create your own Get-a-Life Tree which is discussed in great detail in How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: 

Incidentally the Get-a-Life Tree is a copyrighted retirement tool and only available in  The World's Best Retirement Book and in  The World's Second Best Retirement Book.

If you still haven't constructed your Get-a-Life Tree, start by writing down the things that you would like to pursue in your life before you die. Like the list anyone generates with the Get-a-Life Tree, your list may be based on things you like doing now, things you loved doing in the past but have quit doing, and things you thought about doing but have never tried.

All intellectual improvement arises from leisure.
— Samuel Johnson
 
The wisdom of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure: and he that hath little business shall become wise.
— Bible

Think of all the things in life that you love; then, in some way relate them to retirement activities that you can pursue. Following is a list of activities created by the British writer Agatha Christie (1890-1976) as included in the book Agatha Christie: An Autobiography (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1977).

This list of activities and things that Christie loved may trigger some of the stuff that turns you on. In fact, you may learn to enjoy all 15 things that Agatha Christie enjoyed if you impliment them into your retirement activities. This will go a long ways towards conquering retirement boredom.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 by Ernie J. Zelinski
Author of The World's Best Retirement Book
All Rights Reserved