How To Stay Active in Retirement
How To Stay Active in Retirement: Celebrating the Milestones and Meaningful Moments
Why Celebrating Is Good for You
As individuals and as a community, celebrating big and small occasions helps us create new lasting memories, keeps us socially engaged, and contributes to our physical and emotional health. (Learn more about the benefits of staying social in retirement here.) Celebrating comes in many forms – from holidays and anniversaries to spending quality time together and even sharing your own stories and experiences with friends and family.
When we celebrate each other and ourselves, we strengthen friendships and familial bonds and can connect as a greater community. Celebrating encourages social engagement and physical activities, supports mental and emotional health, and can prevent feelings of isolation and loneliness.
We want to encourage you to live life to the fullest by sharing this quick guide to celebrating your milestones and meaningful moments. It’s time to celebrate you, your loved ones, and all that life has to offer. Here are a few helpful tips to do just that.
Special Occasions To Celebrate With Family and Friends
- Make birthdays special. Play your favorite music, plan a picnic in the park, make reservations at a favorite restaurant, or whip up your favorite dishes or desserts. Involve children and grandchildren. Invite your friends. Birthdays are a great way to celebrate you or your loved one.
- Start new traditions. Shake up your routine by adding new activities to your weekly or monthly calendar. Start a weekly movie night, make a favorite food for dinner, visit friends and family, or plan a road trip or vacation. Add a morning or afternoon walk to your weekend. You may be surprised what adding a few new activities to your calendar can do. (Click here for a list of ideas.) Don’t be afraid to try new things. What starts as a new experience might lead to a new tradition and lasting memories.
- Stay connected on holidays. With official and unofficial holidays year-round, many opportunities exist to join the festivities. (Click here for a look at the National Day Calendar.) If distance during the holidays is an issue, phone calls or video chats can keep you connected with faraway friends and family. By using apps like Zoom, Skype, Teams, or FaceTime, you will be able to talk to family and friends face-to-face on special occasions from anywhere in the world. Grab your smartphone to text a cheerful message with holiday emojis, send pictures, and share festive videos. A little bit of technology goes a long way.
- Volunteer to help others. Local organizations like food pantries, churches, or other community outreach programs often seek volunteers to help others on holidays by giving back. Volunteers make a real difference in the lives of people in need.
- Offer your services as a holiday decorator or party planner. Spread cheer by offering decorating assistance to friends, family or neighbors for a holiday or important gathering. Join in the party planning for the next birthday, wedding shower, graduation party, or weekend barbeque. You never know until you ask, “How can we make this occasion special?” You may be surprised by how often people appreciate having a second pair of hands for preparing for events but do not know who to ask.
- Celebrate Wedding Anniversaries. Send flowers, give each other wedding anniversary gifts, revisit your wedding photographs, plan a day trip or dinner, or buy tickets to a show. Recreate your wedding pictures, visit where you were married and/or where you honeymooned, or stop by the first home you lived in together. Involve friends and family with your wedding anniversary milestones. Celebrate together or throw a party in honor of your years together. It is never too late to renew your vows in a romantic or funny way.
Celebrating Your Personal History by Sharing It
- Graduation dates – Talk to your grandchildren about their education, dreams, and career goals. Encourage and inspire them by telling your own story. Share your experience in school, the career you planned, and the feeling of accomplishment graduation gave you. Talk to them about important things you learned outside of school as well. Tell them about what you have learned and what you have always wanted to know.
- Enlistment dates – Visit historical markers, and war memorials, join Veterans organizations, or observe Veterans Day and Memorial Day with family and friends. Share the pride, sense of duty, and opportunity you felt when enlisted. Revisit photographs from your service or read letters you sent and received while enlisted. Display your pictures, medals, and other mementos from your service or the service of a loved one.
- Big firsts – First job, first car, first house, first date with your spouse. Big firsts make great stories and conversation starters. Why not invite friends for coffee or dinner and take turns sharing big firsts? “Tell us your story,” is a great icebreaker at gatherings. Find pictures of your big firsts in your photo albums, or drive down memory lane by visiting big firsts in your neighborhood. It’s all part of your story.
- Awards/Recognition – If you have your certificates, trophies, and other awards packed away, consider making your next weekend project displaying them in your home. Share your stories of hard work, charity or achievement. Taking pride in your accomplishments is an excellent way to inspire others.
- Retirement – Pay a visit to your old place of business, take the route you used to take to work, stop where you used to grab your morning coffee, or take your lunch break. Meet with co-workers, partners or employees and tell work stories over drinks or snacks. Now that you’re retired, it’s fair game to relive any great, or humorous, work moments with the friends you used to work with.
Make New Memories by Making the Most of the Present
- Appreciate how far you have come and the present moment you inhabit. Do what you enjoy, share what you are passionate about, explore, go on adventures, try new things, and learn new skills. There is a whole world of opportunity, new experiences, and new memories. There is so much to be grateful for and to look forward to in life.
- Volunteer opportunities, which we discussed earlier, are a great way to stay socially active and meet new people during retirement. Giving your time and caring for others can be a fulfilling experience and create lasting memories for others.
- Visit local libraries, community centers, and other public places with resources for seniors. These locations usually offer postings, bulletin boards, and printed flyers or newsletters related to your local community with opportunities for older adults. A little research goes a long way.
- Join clubs or groups, take classes or workshops, and develop new hobbies or interests. Research senior living communities with robust activity/event calendars. Look into OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) noncredit courses for seniors near you. Find retirees with similar hobbies or special interest groups for older adults at local colleges.
- Communities have celebrations too. There are ways to socialize and celebrate in your neighborhood and community. Check for postings about block parties, parades, garage sales, festivals, historic commemorations, sports team victories, or grand openings of local shops or public spaces. (Here is a link to AARP’s online and local events listing.)
Celebrate With Us
Important moments and special occasions happen every day of our lives. Making the most of good news, sharing nostalgia, and making every moment count benefits us individually and as a community. At Eastcastle Place, we offer our residents a variety of elegant venues for both public and private gatherings. We think you’ll find our campus provides the perfect setting for your next birthday, anniversary, or holiday celebration. Or your next book club, art class, or lecture. (View some of our common spaces here.)
We want to thank you for letting us share a few ways to make your meaningful moments more memorable by inviting you to be part of our celebrated history.
Join us for Eastcastle Place’s 140th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, September 14, 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm at Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel. Guests will enjoy an evening of cocktails, a delicious dinner, entertainment by John McGivern, and a champagne toast in honor of our shared legacy. Together we’ll commemorate 140 years of excellence in senior living and celebrate the people who have made Eastcastle Place the renowned community it is today.
To reserve your seat for the Eastcastle Place event of the year, follow the link below: