6 Ways To Find A New Passion After Retirement
If you’re close to retirement, you may be wondering how to keep busy and find things that you are passionate about in this next phase of your life. Discovering what could be purposeful and fulfilling in retirement can require a bit of reflective thought. Here are six ways to find out so you can take those next steps.
- Brainstorm
Brainstorming is a great tool to expose new ideas. One productive way to discover what you’re passionate about is to ask yourself a series of questions.
Such questions could be:
What is one thing I love to do that I never get bored of doing?
What makes me feel happy?
What activity relieves my stress?
What job would I do even if I had to work for free?
What would I regret not ever doing?
What would I do if money were no option?
Write your answers down in a journal without limitation. You can even have multiple answers to each question, and this could lead to more discovery.
- Look BACK and FORWARD
First, think about the activities you enjoyed in your youth. Perhaps it involved music, theater, art, travel, or mountain biking. These can all direct you to things you may still be passionate about even if you stopped doing them long ago. Revisit these activities and reconnect with them, keeping in mind it might be on a different level now in adulthood. Connecting with people involved in these events can also help you assess if you still have an interest.
Second, look toward the end of your life and envision how you would have wished to spend the last thirty years of your time on Earth. These wishes could align with your passions from youth or inspire new ideas.
- Check out continuing education
Many colleges and universities offer continuing education classes that anyone can attend. Look through their catalogs to see if courses appeal to you to learn about new things or reignite old interests you never had a chance to explore before.
Also, online classes through many platforms such as Udemy, MasterClass, or Skillshare have exploded in recent years. Search for your area of interest in an online class and see what pops up. Many of these are affordable options and can give you a peek into a new hobby or role in retirement.
- Talk to people
Seek out expert help. If you’re truly stuck on what to do, a Life Coach service can help you identify not only your desires but also set goals and a road map to achieve them.
Family and friends may also offer insight into your next steps for retirement as they can often give you a new perspective about yourself. They might see a different side of you that inspires you to experiment with new activities. In addition, they can be a library of knowledge to mine in their own passions. Consider trying a new hobby they are involved in and see if it’s a good match for you.
- Get inspired by influencers
Seek out people in the media who share experiences on how they found their passions. This could be through TED talks, podcasts, documentaries, or books. Exposing yourself to diverse perceptions could open your eyes up to a whole new world of untapped interests.
Another way to dig deeper with this is to take notes from these sources for your own benefit. This is another way to brainstorm ideas and discover what you’d enjoy doing in retirement—and help drive you to get started.
- Make new friends
As we get older, it can be more difficult to meet people and make friends. However, expanding our social circle can open us up to new shared experiences. One way to do this is to reach out to your current network and ask to be introduced to others they know in their extended circle. Perhaps these are people in a hobby-specific group that could be of interest to you. Attending events within your local community can also help expand the people you know and lead to inspiring conversations.
Getting outside of your comfort zone and opening yourself up to new experiences is not only key to self-awareness but also to finding a good fit for how you can best spend your retirement. The time spent in seeking out your passions will be worth it to achieve a sense of happiness and purpose in your golden years.
