retirement kung foo ideas
May 8, 2012 5:43 AM Subscribe
I'm retiring after 35 years in 6 months.Any suggestions on good sites for retirement talk, hobbies,vocations etc...thanks
Congrats.
My dad just retired as well, so I'll be watching this thread for sure. He's got a new grandchild (and puppy), who will hopefully keep him busy, and I've been putting him to work around my place as well.
I'd consider setting some goals, like "Read 52 books I've never had time to read", "Visit all 50 states, 10 provinces, European countries (whatever makes sense for where you're located)", etc.
Join a gym, if you're not a member already. Exercise is good.
posted by backwards guitar at 6:06 AM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
My dad just retired as well, so I'll be watching this thread for sure. He's got a new grandchild (and puppy), who will hopefully keep him busy, and I've been putting him to work around my place as well.
I'd consider setting some goals, like "Read 52 books I've never had time to read", "Visit all 50 states, 10 provinces, European countries (whatever makes sense for where you're located)", etc.
Join a gym, if you're not a member already. Exercise is good.
posted by backwards guitar at 6:06 AM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
A friend's dad enjoyed a long career as a pilot (first in the Navy, and then for an airline). He's traveled extensively, and taken to volunteering at the public library. Every once in a while he talks about a trip that he took, but boy does he really lights up when I ask him about his volunteer work.
I'm sure there's a nearby animal shelter full of homeless dogs that would love, love, love to go for a walk. If you feel ambitious, you might consider fostering homeless animals until they can find a permanent family.
Seconding backwards guitar's recommendation to exercise. Take good care of yourself. If you're already exercising, keep it up. If not, walking is a great place to start. If your diet isn't great, starting a vegetable garden might be a hobby that helps to keep you healthy.
What did you do for work? Where do you live? Do you consider yourself more technical or more artistic? What have you enjoyed the most in the past twenty years? What change would you like to see in the world? I suspect the answers to these questions will help generate some informed suggestions.
posted by compartment at 6:18 AM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
I'm sure there's a nearby animal shelter full of homeless dogs that would love, love, love to go for a walk. If you feel ambitious, you might consider fostering homeless animals until they can find a permanent family.
Seconding backwards guitar's recommendation to exercise. Take good care of yourself. If you're already exercising, keep it up. If not, walking is a great place to start. If your diet isn't great, starting a vegetable garden might be a hobby that helps to keep you healthy.
What did you do for work? Where do you live? Do you consider yourself more technical or more artistic? What have you enjoyed the most in the past twenty years? What change would you like to see in the world? I suspect the answers to these questions will help generate some informed suggestions.
posted by compartment at 6:18 AM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
I know some people who are retired. They are active in the community. They make volunteering be like a job - minus the stress. Is there anything that you have been wanting to do but haven't had the time to do it?
Based on your question, you're open to a lot of options. So I'll just name some of the usual candidates and hope something sounds good to you.
- Volunteer on a local farm or community garden.
- Take up outdoor biking or running or walking. You can do this solo or with a group.
Consider riding a recumbent; they are way more comfortable.
- Read books to children at your local library.
- Volunteer at a hospital, old person home, a shelter, etc.
- My city also has a senior center, art center, museum for kids, and raptor center.
- My grandparents volunteer with their churches. If you're religious, there's that.
- Volunteer at your local bike collective
- Create or join a hackerspace
- If you have a farmer's market or an arts and crafts market, you could sell something you make there.
- Edit pages that interest you on Wikipedia
- Post interesting uncovered topics to the blue section of Metafilter, answer more questions on the green section, peruse the IRL section and meet real-life Metafilter people.
- Find a subcategory on Reddit that strikes your fancy and follow it.
- Here is a more comprehensive list of kinds of volunteering you might consider.
Congratulations!
posted by aniola at 8:05 AM on May 8, 2012
Based on your question, you're open to a lot of options. So I'll just name some of the usual candidates and hope something sounds good to you.
- Volunteer on a local farm or community garden.
- Take up outdoor biking or running or walking. You can do this solo or with a group.
Consider riding a recumbent; they are way more comfortable.
- Read books to children at your local library.
- Volunteer at a hospital, old person home, a shelter, etc.
- My city also has a senior center, art center, museum for kids, and raptor center.
- My grandparents volunteer with their churches. If you're religious, there's that.
- Volunteer at your local bike collective
- Create or join a hackerspace
- If you have a farmer's market or an arts and crafts market, you could sell something you make there.
- Edit pages that interest you on Wikipedia
- Post interesting uncovered topics to the blue section of Metafilter, answer more questions on the green section, peruse the IRL section and meet real-life Metafilter people.
- Find a subcategory on Reddit that strikes your fancy and follow it.
- Here is a more comprehensive list of kinds of volunteering you might consider.
Congratulations!
posted by aniola at 8:05 AM on May 8, 2012
*Take up a physical challenge, like couch to 5k or whatever depending upon your current activity level. Or enroll in a yoga or martial arts class.
*Any languages you've always been interested in? Community colleges are really cheap and I know sometimes offer even lower cost classes to seniors.
*Volunteer! Get a weekly gig going at the library, pet shelter, food bank, whatever local organization interests you.
*Join or start a book group if you're not already part of one.
*Learn how to cook or try cooking in new cuisines! Try all the ethnic restaurants in your city that you've never tried before.
*Start a blog to keep yourself motivated. Post a new book review every Wednesday, or keep track of your exercise progress, or post pictures of all the cute pups you meet at the animal shelter. Who cares if no one reads it?!
Good luck and enjoy your retirement!
posted by jabes at 1:11 PM on May 8, 2012
*Any languages you've always been interested in? Community colleges are really cheap and I know sometimes offer even lower cost classes to seniors.
*Volunteer! Get a weekly gig going at the library, pet shelter, food bank, whatever local organization interests you.
*Join or start a book group if you're not already part of one.
*Learn how to cook or try cooking in new cuisines! Try all the ethnic restaurants in your city that you've never tried before.
*Start a blog to keep yourself motivated. Post a new book review every Wednesday, or keep track of your exercise progress, or post pictures of all the cute pups you meet at the animal shelter. Who cares if no one reads it?!
Good luck and enjoy your retirement!
posted by jabes at 1:11 PM on May 8, 2012
Response by poster: I want to thank everyone who responded with such fine answers. Once again I am amazed by metafilter!
posted by malhaley at 5:13 AM on May 10, 2012
posted by malhaley at 5:13 AM on May 10, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
I strongly recommend any hobby sites you can think of. I don't know what you're interested in, but there are forums for everything. If you don't have a hobby, just think of something you've always wanted to do and start searching Youtube. They have great videos and tend to link to sites.
The best thing to do is keep yourself busy, are you married? (and if you are, is your spouse retired as well).
posted by Danithegirl at 5:57 AM on May 8, 2012