It wasn’t long ago that retirement was looked at as a blank slate: endless days to be filled with ... not much. Maybe a luncheon, watching a soap opera, puttering around the house, tackling a crossword puzzle, or perhaps tee-time on the greens.

But now, retirees are more active than ever with everything from hobbies and volunteering to starting businesses, and experts say this trend will continue. In fact, they say, pursuing challenging activities is vital to your health, especially as you age.

“Pursuing meaningful activities isn’t just keeping busy and having fun,” says Col. Roger F. Landry, USAF-Ret., a former flight surgeon who in the 1990s was chief of Aerospace, Occupational, and Preventive Medicine for the Air Force but since has turned his attention to the senior population, developing pilot programs for senior living communities that incorporate the principles of successful aging. “It’s a key part of successful aging.”

Landry points to a study funded by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which showed that how we age has far more to do with the choices we make in life than it does with our genes. In fact, a whopping 70 percent of how we age is attributed to our lifestyle choices.

Mentally and physically challenging yourself and being engaged in life are two of the components of successful aging and are directly related to how you fill your days. The third component to successful aging is taking steps to avoid medical risks.

The World War II generation is called “the greatest generation” for a reason, but many retirees from that era had preconceived notions about what it meant to retire: Their main concerns were safety, security, and comfort, says Landry. Those in the generation now retiring—or on the verge of retiring—instead want to challenge themselves, find their passions, and become even more involved in life.

Evolving social values are credited for the new views about retirement. Research shows baby boomers see retirement as an opportunity for growth rather than a time to scale back. “Retirees are going to be able to sample and enjoy life more, and our culture will allow it. We are going to have a totally different life than our grandparents, or even our parents,” says Landry.

The prospect of such a wide-open retirement landscape can seem overwhelming. How do you want to fill your days, and where is the best place to make that happen? Uncovering the answers takes a lot of soul-searching and prioritizing, says Landry, and it’s best done before retirement, not after.

Your wildest dreams

According to Peter Silton, author of Active Retirement for Affluent Workaholics: Planning for the Life You’ve Always Wanted (NP Financial Systems, 2001), you should start planning your retirement five years before you retire. “As an officer you always had to prepare plans, define objectives, set goals for your company, battalion, etcetera. Retirement requires a lot of planning and coordination with your superior, usually your wife,” he says. He recommends making a list of at least 50 things you’d like to do—for instance, learn French, see Wimbledon, visit Nepal, learn to play the piano, or whatever excites you.

“These [items] are then negotiated with your spouse and listed in priority. Priorities might shift as things change, but at least you have a plan. You then take the top five, or more or [fewer], and put a time to them. Once you have put a [time frame] on it, say September of 2005, it becomes real. You then determine the steps needed to accomplish this, including a rough budget and decide how you are going to do it,” Silton says.
 
Don’t let preconceived notions of what constitutes age-appropriate behavior limit your thinking, because those barriers are quickly falling. Landry was part of a panel charged with drafting medical requirements for future space tourists. Age was one of the first criteria to be eliminated.

As a further example, Silton, who designed his retirement so he skis 30 days a year, is president of the Over the Hill Gang, a group of skiers over 50. “We have a woman skier who is 80 years old who is winning gold medals in her race class all the time because she is the only one in it,” he says.

Or perhaps you want to devote your time, skills, and talents to helping others. Research by AARP shows half of the people now on the verge of retirement are planning to volunteer, and that number is expected to grow as the baby boomer generation ages. Landry knows one woman who combined her love of crafting with philanthropy: She leads an organization that makes toys for children in third world countries. “Tending a garden can be incredibly meaningful for one person, while working to end world hunger can be meaningful for someone else,” he says.

Moving on

Before you pick up the house and move to Florida to get your golf game into shape for your assault on the senior tour, make sure you do some serious soul searching.

Landry says retirees often “chase the sun, only to end up a year or so later moving back home. … I think
a lot of people make the mistake of pursuing only a portion of the things that are a high priority to them.”
Top on the priority list for many is family—especially when grandchildren are involved. An AARP study of 1,200 adults ages 38–57 showed that 70 percent think family should provide emotional support during retirement, 70 percent are looking forward to becoming grandparents, and 57 percent expect to live near at least one of their children during retirement.

Those findings are backed up by a 2000 study by Bruskin Research, which showed that many retirees plan to spend more time with their family and friends. Medical issues sometimes dictate a move to a warmer climate, even if it’s simply to help soothe the aches and pains that can become more common as you age. Being able to get outside year-round can help a person stay active by providing more recreational opportunities such as walking, fishing, and gardening.

Financial concerns also must be taken into account. A study conducted by the marketing company Age Wave found that of people about to retire, 95 percent planned to work. Of current retirees surveyed, 19 percent worked for themselves or for others either full- or part-time, not necessarily because they had to, but because they wanted to.

A new life

Silton says when he retired 12 years ago, he came up with a list of goals. After prioritizing them, he began tackling the new objectives, which included traveling, learning more about art and textiles, and developing a wider social network. As he pursued the items on the list, some fell by the wayside. “There were a number of failures, because of physical limitations or [because] once I got into them, I found I didn’t like them,” he says. “But I am doing many exciting and new things all the time.”

Landry tells of a woman who always wanted to parachute out of a plane but didn’t because she thought it wasn’t “right.” That changed on her 90th birthday, when she took the leap. “All of the research shows that we are [becoming] more empowered,” Landry says. “And it’s never too late to do things that test us mentally, physically, and spiritually.”