A Story About Taking A Big, Juicy Bite Out Of Your Third Act
You are in for a FUN read!
A big part of the reason most people look forward to retirement is to finally have time to go have some FUN! My guest author this week has figured out how to fit plenty of FUN in her Third Act, and she does so with relish! I worked with Jackee in our Second Act and she has always had a brilliant mind and an electric personality. Her attitude is one of curiosity mixed with a healthy appreciation of the world around her with a pragmatic grounding that drives her to get stuff done. It turns out, that's exactly the kind of approach that has catapulted her into an amazing Third Act. Read on to be inspired to jump headlong into yours!
I am an active senior (I never thought I would call myself that) that is on the go a lot. Retirement has really been the next best thing for me. And, what I really like about retirement is I can do what I want to do when I want to do it! No more alarm clocks, no more early morning or late night meetings.
My husband (who is also retired) and I make sure that we plan at least one big trip each year. We have been blessed enough with good health and the ability to travel to places like China, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sicily, Malta, Austria, and many more exotic places. We have travelled as much as we can since retirement - pandemic included.
We are lucky enough to have friends that like to travel with us and like to do unusual things, such as renting a sailboat and sailing the Caribbean for a couple of weeks, or hiking the Dolomites in Italy, or skiing in the Alps.
That may sound too expensive to some, but what I have found is there are lots of tours (if that is your thing) and activities that are relatively inexpensive here in the Sacramento area as well as the Pacific Northwest. Expand what you think you can do and what you think you will be comfortable with. My most enjoyable outings have been doing things that I thought would be just awful, boring, too strenuous, too scary.
We have also found the National Geographic tours and their affiliate GeoTours are reasonably priced and do not penalize for a single. We recently went to Oaxaca Mexico for the “Day of the Dead” celebration. The majority of the 16 people in our tour group were singles. Ranging from 26 to 80. We met some really fun people on that trip that we stay in touch with.
You don’t have to travel abroad to enjoy an active life. We make annual trips to the wine country around Paso Robles. Much less expensive than Napa and the wines are awesome! We make an annual trip to San Francisco to watch the Blue Angels fly around - free! Our son lives in Austin, Texas so we make a couple of trips a year to visit him. Our daughter lives in Guam (which some think is another country but it is an US territory - English and the US Dollar). We try to go to visit her at least once a year.
We have several friends that own homes in the Tahoe area that we get invited to regularly. In exchange we invite our friends to stay with us during our 2 month stay in Mexico. We used our windfall of the pre-pandemic stock market run to buy a condo in the tiny little town of Troncones Mexico, known for its surfing and its yoga retreats. Our condo is right on the ocean. We always have friends there to share the experience.
I also now have the time to work into my "travel & friend visiting" schedule, the ability to volunteer. I was totally amazed at the number of non profit organizations that need volunteers. I worked at the food bank…not my thing. I worked at a homeless shelter for a bit. But I finally found one that I just love and that is “A Touch of Understanding”. It is non profit that works with school age children (mostly 2nd and 3rd grade) to teach them about the tools that a disabled individual may use to live their best lives. There are 6 different hands-on stations for the kids to learn and get a
better idea of what life is like for a particular disability. I do the braille and walking canes, where I assist a blind person in teaching the kids. I truly look forward to my days when I have signed up to volunteer.
I have always been an active person. I learned early in my life that exercise made me feel good and helped me think better. So one of the things I do each day is some type of physical activity. Even if I’m traveling. Example: in the summer when it is so warm in the afternoon I will spend my morning doing a long bike ride or a hike or a long walk or a run. In the winter, I enjoy snowshoeing, and skiing. And, when the weather is unpredictable I will go to the gym. If you are older than 65 many of the supplemental health plans you can buy once you are on Medicare actually pay for a gym membership. Which is what I did. I have found that many of the people
who attend the exercise classes I enjoy are over the age of 60. It is a great way to meet new people with similar interests.
So as you can read, life in retirement is and can be anything but boring or non-productive! I plan to live a long life and will stay as active and on the go as long as I can. Like the Nike logo.
Just do it!