Senior boredom is a common affliction that can suck the life out of us if we’re not careful.
If we fall into, or find ourselves in, the same old day to day routines once we’ve retired or become physically disabled in some way, this can lead to hopelessness, depression, loneliness and disease.
So how can we prevent senior boredom? Or how can we shake it off if it has already come upon us?
Fortunately, prevention and treatment can be simple and quick once you realize the options, and tap into our inexhaustible dormant energy source.
Here’s How to Tap Into the Energy of Youth
One of the greatest joys of childhood, that we never appreciate until much later, is novelty.
- That first time you made a friend at grammar school.
- The first crush you had on a teacher.
- When you could finally ride a bike with no training wheels.
- Crossing the street for the first time, all by yourself.
- Your first romantic kiss. Making it to second base. Or home!
For the first 20 years or so of our life, new information, new experiences are delivered like the newspaper –daily.
So many of our early days filled with “first times”.
Is it any wonder we remember those days so fondly?
Now, here we are. 40+ odd years have passed since then. Been there, done that. Same old, same old.
Days, life can become monotonous. Boring. Dull. Repetitive. Repetitive. Repetitive.
Like Bill Murray’s character Phil Connors experienced in the movie “Groundhog Day”.
Luckily, once you recognize you are “Phil”, you can begin to make the changes necessary to return novelty, joy, and an avalanche of new “first times” to your life.
Only this time, rather than just being along for the ride, you get to drive! You get to create the exact new experiences YOU want to have.
You can choose to start simply, or start grand. Choose to brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand today. Or plan a new addition on your home. Big or small, you can choose them all!
I’ll bet you can think of a few things you could do to mix things up today. Have tea instead of coffee. Or finally clean up that room you’ve been planning to. But the real lifestyle change, the real change in attitude and perspective comes when you make “changes” a permanent part of your life.
The real change comes when you make “changes” a part of your life.
To invite the new, is to renew!
Renew your spirit. Your hope. Your sense of adventure. Renew your excitement for life!
As for me, I started learning piano today! I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
Now, if you’re also ready to invite some “NEW” into your life, BRAVO for you! Let’s go!
How To Become Un-Bored
Those who might be on the fence, lacking for ideas, inspiration, or possibilities might just find their first starting point while reading the 101 ideas for inviting the new and novel listed below.
- Eat with chopsticks today
- Don’t eat or drink anything you had yesterday
- Take a refreshing bath, with essential oils or epsoms salts. Add candles too!
- Go for a walk in a new place. Park, mall, neighborhood, waterfront.
- Birdwatch. Just sit and watch. Or smile as you watch squirrels play.
- Stargaze tonight. There are apps which will tell you the constellations and planets. You just aim your smartphone. Stellarium Mobile-Star Map is a good app to try on your smartphone.
- Watch your favorite childhood movie.
- Start a learning adventure on YouTube. Drawing. Origami. Flower design. Recipe. Music. etc.
- Have a picnic in the backyard or nearby park.
- Try a new recipe from a cookbook or get one online.
- Have dessert for every meal today!
- Re-arrange the furniture in one room.
- Plan a cruise or vacation
- Google local activities and events for today, then go to one.
- Donate blood
- Write a real letter or card and send it to an old friend or loved one
- Call someone you know you should, or just want to talk with.
- Invite someone over for a meal, activity, or drink.
- Take an online course.
- Go to the library. Just browse or grab something new to read or watch
- Grab a puzzle book from the local store and do it. Crosswords, Sudoku, or others.
- Start a fitness or exercise routine. Pilates, Yoga, Body weight, Isometric, or other. Youtube has these.
- Watch and do a meditation. Also plenty on Youtube.
- Practice your cursive handwriting. Or learn to write with your other hand.
- Start a scrapbook. Then see how carried away you can get by watching Youtube’s on scrapbooking.
- Go bowling.
- Get thee to the archery range for target practice.
- Take up calligraphy.
- Learn to draw cartoons or anime.
- Go to the pool hall and shoot some pool.
- Swim – go to an actual pool and swim.
- Join your local gym or fitness center. Or ask if they have a free day pass.
- Buy 10 one dollar lottery tickets and try to give them away to strangers.
- Try meditating for 10 minutes
- Get a reflexology massage
- Go for, or make an appointment for, a full-body massage.
- Start learning a new language
- Learn how to crochet or knit
- Learn how to refinish furniture
- Learn how to paint, with oils or acrylics, or watercolors
- Do 20 minutes of stretching
- Attend a new sporting event.
- Choose a random word-of-the-day and write a rhyming poem or limerick. Post it on Facebook
- Write a short story, or outline your book or autobiography
- Dress up in new outfits and take selfies
- Grab your camera or phone and take 25 photos today of unusual things
- Visit a local museum
- Volunteer at a church, hospital, museum, theater, fundraiser, political
- Buy a new brand of coffee or tea each week
- Sleep with your head where your feet usually go.
- Try a new wine or alcoholic beverage.
- Go to the driving range and hit some golf balls.
- Play mini-golf.
- Get involved with clay, pottery, or sculpture.
- Get a tarot or astrology reading.
- Rent a jetski for the day
- Rent a kayak, canoe, or paddleboat
- Take a day trip to a town you’ve never been too.
- Take a day trip to a state park or tourist attraction
- Learn floral design
- Learn to make jewelry or bead work
- Browse Etsy for crafts you could make and sell too!
- Start an indoor or outdoor garden
- Adopt a pet – but only if you’re serious about caring for it.
- Volunteer at an animal shelter
- Collect everything you don’t need anymore and donate it.
- Learn how to play cards. Or a new game.
- Learn how to play chess
- Learn a new computer something
- Start a gratitude journal
- Take a dance class, or follow one online
- Take up photography
- Do not watch the same anything on TV for one day
- Have a NO SCREEN day. No TV. No cell phone. No tablet.
- Take a hike – in nature. The woods are most refreshing
- Try soap or candle making
- Wander through the local hobby store. Get something to do.
- Sew something from scraps around the house. Find ideas online. Youtube.
- Watch a TED lecture online. Or any something educational or thought provoking.
- Cook on the grill today.
- Try a new ethnic food. Chinese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Mexican, etc
- Start a home renovation or painting project
- Sign up for a community education class.
- Take an Online Driver Safety course and save on your car insurance too!
- Join a local walking group.
- Join any group whose interests align with yours. Meetup.com is a great source
- Learn one new word today. Then use it in sentences throughout the day
- Drive a different route to the store or wherever you happen to be going
- Have just coffee, or soup, or dessert at a place you’ve never been too.
- Visit a new church each week. Attend services for other denominations as well.
- Go to your town’s board meeting this month.
- Team up with a friend or another couple for some activity and double your fun
- Create a vision board. What do you want? Post it front and center for inspiration.
- Treat yourself to a spa day.
- Put on your best suit or dress, then go walk the mall like you’re king or queen. Feels good.
- Do the opposite. Put on a silly hat, bold color combination, or anything outrageous and walk the mall.
- Get your car’s interior professionally detailed. Or your home rugs professionally cleaned.
- Go to your local high school track, and walk the lanes backward.
- Make something with your hands. Use food. Popsicle sticks. Pasta. Glue, Paper. Whatever you have.
- Add a positive comment to anything your friends post on social media. Make them smile.
- Find a Karaoke night somewhere and go sing. Or just watch.
This list is by no mean complete.
Hopefully though, something in this list has set at least a spark of interest glowing in your long bored soul. Mix and match. The only possible mistake you can make is not trying anything new.
Many mistakenly believe that they have to feel motivated to begin. Funny thing is, motivation more likely comes AFTER you begin.
-Do one pushup, or one situp. See if you don’t feel like adding another.
-Put away just one thing in your room. See if you don’t automatically want to do another too.
-Plug in the vacuum cleaner. Don’t you feel compelled to use it now?
Taking that first step is always the hardest. It was when you were a baby and learning to walk – and it still is half a century later! Always will be. Because it’s a natural law. Like gravity,
Newton’s First Law dictates that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Conversely, an object at rest, tends to stay at rest.
We set ourselves in motion. We must provide that first move, that little spark of energy, effort. Then, the natural laws take over to keep us in motion.
Start. Begin. Then watch as your sense of wonder returns. Your excitement grows. Your fun multiplies.
Renew your life. Reinvigorate your life with the joy that comes from new.
Want to enjoy life more, like you did in your youth?
Look for more new to do. Then do it!
This I learned from experience. Years were passing by “Groundhog Day” style for me.
But then, I remember seeing that famous quote from Albert Einstein with new eyes. To paraphrase, “Doing the same thing and expecting a different result”. I had that “ah-ha!” moment then. I knew I had to start doing something different each day in order for things to change. To refresh. Renew.
Inspired by that quote to change, in the past year I’ve:
- Learned to write in cursive, forward and backward, with both hands.
- Bought a banjo and learned to play a song.
- Wrote a report on how I finally fixed my chronic knee pain
- Learned to bounce a golf ball on a rubber mallet – up to 1000 consecutive times.
- Learned the technique and physical and mental benefits of walking backward.
- Created a home decor line of uplifting smiley products.
- Learned how to ice skate backward.
- Traveled to Las Vegas. And will be taking my first ever cruise in just a few weeks
- And I’m currently learning to sketch portraits and play piano!
Every day there’s something new to do. More importantly, “new” offers the opportunity to improve at something. Maybe even to compete and win at something. And that feels good my friend, at any age!
Senior boredom is a lifestyle choice. Or a willingness to choose inaction. Not our destiny.
What are you up for trying?
The sky’s the limit. Ooooo…I forgot to list skydiving above!
Leave a comment below, I’d love to know what you’ll start to do!
“Bene Vivere!”
Bob Elderbob Schwarztrauber
P.S. One of the best reasons to change things up is because it engages your brain. New pathways form. Your focus and concentration improve when you are attempting new things. You suddenly have to pay very careful attention. Consider this, driving to work for the first time. You drove unfamiliar streets and had to really pay attention to get there on time. But within a very short time, of taking that same path day after day, you got there on “autopilot”. You didn’t even have to think about it. Your conscious brain, the thinking part, handed that task routine task off to your subconscious brain. Just as it did when you learned to walk, ride a bike, add numbers, brush teeth. That’s what the subconscious brain is there for. So your conscious mind can be left free to concentrate on the thinking tasks. New things. Problems to be solved. So when you fall into the routine of doing the same old stuff day after day, your conscious brain gets weak with nothing to do. Adding new stuff daily helps keep your mind, your brain, and your life, fresh!
