Things to Do After 50
I am a firm believer that age brings wisdom, and wisdom enhances experiences. Complacency and stagnation do not need to be hallmarks of middle age and beyond—quite the opposite. Don’t be afraid to make a major change (or three) to your life. Here are some I recommend (and I’ve done).
1) Use Your Voice
We were all mouth know-it-alls when we were 15 and 21 and 30, right? But you know what? After 50, we actually do know something—a lot of somethings—about life, and I’ve noticed that older adults aren’t sharing that wisdom with one another like they could be. Start a blog. Start a podcast. Write a book. Write articles. You have something to say that only you can say! Why are you depriving us?
2) Go Back to School
I definitely hated school as a kid. I hated every moment I was there. So my obsession with adult learning came as a surprise to me, and I encourage you to seek out opportunities. There are lots of local adult education classes where you can find experts in your community willing to teach you car repair, hiking, nature drawing, coding. Find something that appeals to you. I took an adult education course in watercolors and I was terrible at it but had a great time. I also took an adult education course in taekwondo and I ended up pursuing it all the way to my black belt. You might find a longtime passion, or you might just have fun for a few weeks and make some local friends. And there are plenty of online go-at-your-own-pace classes if that sounds better to you.
3) Self-Teach Something New
YouTube absolutely fascinates me. I just received a ukulele and my goal is to teach myself this year how to play by just watching YouTube videos. You can learn a language, learn yoga, learn to make a scrapbook—just pop what you’re interested in learning into YouTube and make a commitment to yourself to 15 to 20 minutes a day learning something new.
4) Try a New Fitness Activity
This is not the time of your life to let your fitness goals fade. Get healthy and fit now and you can prolong your life. I don’t mind saying that at 49 I look and feel far better than I did at 25 because I love fitness and working out! The key is to try something new. Weight training, walking, running, yoga, horseback riding, bowling, golf, belly dancing. If it interests you, try it! And did you play a team sport when you were younger? Look around for an over-40 or over-50 league and let your extrovert come out to play with a like-minded community! Always be trying something new.
5) Take an Extended Vacation
If you’ve racked up vacation time and you have seniority at work, take advantage and go see another part of the world. An “extended” vacation to me is anything more than seven days. Two summers ago, I took a 10-day vacation to Cooperstown, NY; Toronto; the Finger Lakes; and Vermont. I realized I hadn’t been away from home this long since I was 20-something and it was amazing.
6) Make a Big Career Choice
Caveat: I’m not suggesting leave a good-paying job and health insurance to lead tours in Tibet. If you want to and you can, go for it. But what I mean here is to take a really good look at what you’re doing for work and if you truly can keep going with it until retirement. You may love your job and if so, great. But if you’re hamster-wheeling it, remember you have a lot of your life left. Maybe you don’t want to spend it in a cubicle 40 hours a week. Maybe you don’t want to spend it the way you’re spending it now. Maybe it’s time for a side hustle, or maybe it is time for a full-on career change. I’m kind of the master of career changes. I left a newsroom job to be a writer; I quit writing to own and operate a yoga studio for 10 years; then I sold the studio and went back to writing and editing while I still teach yoga on the side. There’s a lot to do out there in the world. The career decision I made at 21 was the right thing for me then—but it wouldn’t be the right thing for me now.
I hope this has inspired you to try new things. What I’m finding as I’m getting older is I want to be fully present and fully engaged in the world, doing things for myself and others. Do you have any stories or other advice? Comment below!
