Just because you're no longer working doesn't mean you have to spend your days wondering what to do next. Living with purpose in retirement means finding productive ways to fill your time. Many seniors find purpose in volunteering or strengthening their connections with other community members. Others take classes, try new hobbies, or join local community organizations.
No matter what you decide to do, retirement is a time for new beginnings. Instead of simply wondering how you'll fill your days, aim for personal growth and fulfillment. Sunrise helps residents create a purposeful life after retirement by planning meaningful activities, providing volunteer opportunities, and delivering personalized support.
What Does It Mean to Live with Purpose After Retirement?
Living with purpose requires you to take an active role in your life. When you're working, it's easy to allow your job duties or achievements to define you. Once you retire, however, you no longer have the same goals. You need to reimagine your life and embrace new possibilities.
Planning a purposeful retirement has positive effects on your physical, emotional, and mental well-being. It's important to preserve your physical health so that you can continue doing the things you love. You may not be able to prevent 100% of all health problems, but you can keep your body strong by staying active and engaged.
Many seniors experience positive emotional changes, but an individual can quickly develop negative emotions if they don't feel fulfilled. Finding meaning in retirement may even help you avoid depression and other mental health problems associated with loneliness and isolation.
After leaving the workforce, you may have the following concerns:
- Reduced independence
- Financial instability
- Losing your identity as a professional
- Cognitive decline
- Health problems
- Loneliness
- Loss of friendships
You can address these fears by incorporating purpose into your retirement planning strategy.
The Key Pillars of a Purposeful Retirement
If you want to build a purposeful life after retirement, you need to establish a strong foundation.
Community Engagement
When you're wondering what to do in retirement, don't forget about maintaining positive relationships. It's critical to stay connected with other people and build a strong support network. Sunrise achieves this by fostering a strong sense of community among residents. Once you move to a Sunrise community, it’s easy to develop meaningful connections and enjoy an active social life—there's always someone around to play a game or share a conversation.
Lifelong Learning
Lifelong learning has many benefits for older adults. Experts believe it may even prevent or slow down some types of cognitive decline, making it important to continue developing new skills as you age. Best of all, learning is fun. Sunrise offers a variety of classes for residents to explore new topics and skills, such as:
Contribution and Legacy
While you were working, you learned valuable skills and gained a vast amount of knowledge. As part of your purposeful life, you can share what you've learned with others. Volunteering and mentoring young people both allow you to leave a legacy for future generations. You can share your wisdom by tutoring children, sharing your story with teens, or using some of the skills you've learned to support a local nonprofit organization.
How Sunrise Helps Residents Find Purpose
Sunrise isn't just a place to live—it's a community designed to help you create a purposeful lifestyle during retirement. We help residents find meaning by providing volunteer opportunities, group classes, recreational programs, and a variety of resident-led activities. In fact, our signature programming is called Sunrise Live With Purpose.
Volunteer Opportunities at Sunrise Senior Living
Volunteering gives you a chance to share your wisdom and skills with other people, helping foster a sense of accomplishment and community. And if you volunteer with a few of your friends, you get additional opportunities to strengthen your support network.
At Sunrise, residents have volunteer opportunities inside and outside the community. You can help a fellow resident or mentor a young person who attends a nearby school. Residents also help with community events and volunteer for local nonprofit organizations.
Educational and Recreational Programs
Our educational and recreational programs help residents stay sharp and discover new passions. If there's a hobby you've always wanted to try, there's a good chance Sunrise has a program to help you get started.
We also offer educational events to help residents keep their skills current, such as technology workshops, gardening classes, and guest lectures. Sunrise also offers a variety of classes with MasterClass, which has online courses taught by the world's leading experts.
Resident-Led Activities
Resident-led initiatives give seniors the opportunity to take on leadership roles within the community. When you have a leadership role, you have many opportunities to connect with others and create meaningful moments or conversations. At Sunrise, we encourage residents to start new clubs and lead community activities.
Living With Purpose: Tips for Retirees
If you're committed to living with purpose, you can create a meaningful life within or outside a senior living community. Learn a new hobby, volunteer in your community, and participate in self-reflection exercises to get a better understanding of what fulfillment means to you.
It's also important to assess your life and determine if there's anything you want to change. For example, if you haven't had time to maintain strong friendships, you might want to prioritize social connections within your first few months of retirement.
The Role of Personalized Care in Supporting a Purposeful Retirement
For residents who need a little extra support, Sunrise offers personalized care, including assisted living and memory care. As you receive expert support from compassionate team members, you have the ability to do more of the things you love.
Our individualized care plans help you maintain as much of your physical and mental abilities as possible, making it easier to find meaning and fulfillment. Our team members focus on the holistic wellness of residents to nurture and encourage independence, choice, and individuality.
How to Start Planning for a Purposeful Retirement
If living a purposeful life sounds appealing to you, careful planning can make it easier to achieve your goals. As you prepare to retire, do some self-reflection exercises to determine what's truly important to you.
Where you decide to live has a big impact on your ability to create a fulfilling life. When you're ready to choose a senior living community, make sure you assess their volunteer opportunities, new learning experiences, and social life.
Explore Purposeful Retirement at Sunrise Senior Living
If you're ready to create a purposeful life in your retirement, learn more about how Sunrise helps residents live with purpose. You can also schedule a visit with a Sunrise community near you to explore our personalized care and living options that support purposeful living.