Very few people stop learning once their formal education is over. You may have taken classes to polish your professional credentials. Or you may have collaborated with coworkers to bring projects across the finish line. Learning was probably essential to your career success. Your family and social connections may have taught you new things as those relationships evolved over the years.
Retirees often have to be a bit more intentional about their learning habits. Your personal and professional connections are likely going through major changes as you transition from full-time work. There may be many blank spaces on your calendar. Be intentional in filling those spaces with learning opportunities. It may be the most powerful investment you can make in your retirement.
Improve Your Health
When we learn something new, we are rewiring connections in our brain, or strengthening existing connections. These changes can keep your mind sharp and reduce your risk of dementia.
Learning can also boost our mental health by improving our confidence, drive, and sense of self. A mental health boost may reduce feelings of anxiety and stress that plague many seniors.
Learning new activities like dancing, yoga, or pickleball gets you moving, improving your balance and coordination. What is good for the heart is good for the brain.
Broaden Your Social Connections
Broaden Your Social Connections One thing Covid taught us is isolation isn’t healthy. Having social interactions improves our sense of well being. When you leave the work force, you often leave behind a social network.
Taking classes, attending lectures, or joining clubs can improve your skills and connect you with people with similar passions. When my husband retired, he finally got involved with several HAM radio clubs – a few local, and one in New Jersey – because they offered so many classes online. Some of my sisters’ best friends came from learning pickleball.
Prepare for Your Second or Third Act
As retirees’ lifespans and healthspans continue to improve, many will cycle in and out of the workforce, not unlike their “gig economy” children and grandchildren. Retirees also have the benefit of decades of experience and financial planning.
You can leverage those resources to study and develop the business idea that’s been percolating in the back of your mind. You can take classes and work towards a degree that will help you make a career pivot. A friend retired from architecture work, beefed up her science knowledge at the local college, and got accepted to a college for physician’s assistants (her first love, but was discouraged by professors two decades earlier).
Devote more learning time to a skill or craft that you can turn into a new professional venture. A friend took a hobby of jewelry making to a new level. She took metal classes from the art department at the university. She is enjoying her “hobby” more and making more money.
Stay Ahead of the Curve
The world is changing so fast that folks who aren’t active learners risk getting left behind. Yet if you are willing to cultivate your curiosity and make learning a cornerstone of your retirement schedule, the resources available to you are nearly endless.
The combination of devoting more time to things that interest you and stepping outside of your comfort zone can make learning one of the most meaningful things you can do in retirement.
Our office is here to assist you in your exploration of what retirement can be.