Sophie Okolo, MPH

When you’re getting older and have the chance to retire, it can be the perfect time to commit some of your time to caring for your community. You might have been somewhat community-minded when you were younger, but it’s not always easy to be as involved as you might like when you’re busy working, raising children, or coping with other commitments. However, when you retire, you have a lot more time on your hands. In fact, some people get bored without something to do. If you want to be more involved with your community, now is the perfect time.

Find the Right Place to Live

Where you live makes a huge difference to how connected you can be to the local community. In some places, you can end up feeling rather isolated because you don’t know how to connect with anyone. However, there are ways that moving home might help you to be more connected. Living in a retirement village or assisted living community is ideal if you want to be more community-minded. You have a ready-made community available for you to become a part of in any way that suits you. Other options could work for you too, whether it’s staying in your own home or moving in with a family member.

Look for Opportunities to Volunteer

Volunteering is a great way for older people to be more involved with their community. Even if you’re slowing down, you can still have a lot of time and energy to dedicate to volunteering. There are plenty of different causes you could support and activities you could do to lend your time to a good cause. It could be anything from volunteering for an animal charity to raising money or even helping out other older people. Using technology, you can even volunteer from your own home.

Offer Support to Friends and Neighbors

You don’t necessarily need to get involved in the wider community to help people out. Those closest to you can be the ones who are most appreciative of your help and who could really need it. There are lots of ways you could help out friends, neighbors, and family, including other older people. You could offer to help someone with their shopping, babysit, or even just provide someone with company when they need it most. By being there for the people you know, you can give them valuable support.

Join Groups and Activities

If you want to avoid loneliness, get involved with your local community, and make new friends, there are lots of groups and activities you could join. Some might focus specifically on doing things for the community or raising money for charity, but other options are more about socializing and having fun. You don’t necessarily have to be doing something altruistic to be involved with your community and be community-minded. Simply make yourself present and get to know people while doing things that you enjoy.

Older people can stay connected to their communities through various different activities and actions that they can take to be more involved.