Retiring can be exciting but you may also find that the freedom you have been waiting so long to have, is also quite daunting. It can be easy to fall into a routine where you don’t really do any of the things you dreamed of doing. Many also find themselves over-committing in an attempt to fill up their apparent free time, until all of it is gone. If you are retired and feel like you are too busy to do any of the things you really want to do, something needs to change. I will help by sharing some advice on how to make the most of your retirement.

Firstly, make sure that every day has a purpose. Living a meaningful life has huge benefits on mental and physical well-being and it doesn’t matter what age you find this sense of purpose. You may decide to support a particular cause and dedicate your life to it, or fill every day with random acts of kindness, aiming to spread happiness. Whatever you choose, make sure you have good intentions, and that it doesn’t put any stress on or harm anyone including yourself.

Prioritise maintaining and looking after your health. It is in the later years of life that most of us realise how much we took our body and health for granted. If you already have some health difficulties, it’s especially important to make some lifestyle changes, such as eating nutritious food, and exercising, in order to give our bodies the support it needs in order to function as long as possible.

Another tip is to create a retirement plan. You can do this by visualising your future and see what you would be happiest doing, and where you would be. Living in a community can give us a sense of belonging, and the benefit of being retired is that there are communities such as Gloucestershire Park Homes, waiting for us to join.