14 ideas for life after retirement

If you’ve recently retired from your job, don’t worry. There are many more exciting things to enjoy and explore post-retirement. Here are 14 ideas to help inspire you!

1. Take a class

Keep your mind sharp and gain new skills in retirement by taking a class at a local college or community center. From photography to woodworking, there’s something for everyone.

2. Join a club

Don’t feel like you have to do it all alone. Joining a group of people with similar interests adds structure and camaraderie to retirement life.

3. Get creative

Dig out your arts and crafts supplies or try something new from painting to scrapbooking. Exploring creative outlets can increase overall wellbeing and sense of purpose in retirement.

4. Volunteer

Put your passions into action by volunteering with causes that are important to you - from mentoring students to helping animals in need, you’ll be making an impact on the world from the comfort of home.

5. Try cooking different cuisines

Explore cultural dishes from around the world with cooking classes online or purchase ingredients for reci- pes on YouTube videos. Bon appetite.

6. Tour nearby locations

For locals and visitors alike, there are many sights to explore near home - check out popular tourist spots in your city or venture farther out to see rural areas nearby depending on travel restrictions where you live.

7. Learn something new

Retirees have more free time than ever before so why not start learning something completely new or brush up on old skills such as playing the piano, doing flower arranging, and getting back into art?

8. Plant an indoor garden

Nothing says relaxation like the beauty of nature; growing microgreens, flowers or herbs in pots indoors can bring peace right into your home while bringing a touch of natural flair indoors.

9. Organize your digital life

Cleanup digital clutter by organizing old files, photos and documents that might be taking up too much space on devices like phones and computers. Be sure it’s secure before disposing of older items, too.

10. Start writing your memoirs

Retirement may be a great time for reflecting. You might have stories worthy enough for publishing so consider writing them down or start recording meaningful conversations with family members.

11. Create DIY projects at home

Use spare time constructively by creating simple projects around the house such as installing shelves, building furniture pieces, even reupholstering chairs brings out those handyman skills.

12. Organize virtual gatherings with friends & family

‘Zoom fatigue’ is real but don’t let it stop socializing safely from afar – plan game nights, host movie nights with friends- who knows there’s so many ways just engage digitally without exhausting oneself.

13. Practice meditation

Get away from daily stress by channeling mindfulness through daily practice of meditation. It is proven to boost physical and emotional health significantly especially with age.

14. Play music to de-stress

There are tangible benefits offered by listening to music. For retirees just learning how playing different instruments lowers cortisol level can be helpful.

Retirement is a brand new chapter of life where you are no longer restricted by the obligations of your job or financial responsibilities. With time on your hands to explore and grow, this can be an exciting time filled with endless possibilities.

Take up new hobbies and activities, volunteer in the community, join groups and clubs, travel to destinations near and far; there are so many ways you can live a purposeful life after retirement.

Caring Transitions provides help with downsizing, estate sales and more - giving you more time to focus on enjoying your retirement.

It's crazy! From 2000 to 2021, the number of households headed by older Americans (people age 55 or older) grew by a stunning 65 percent in the United States, according to the latest gures released by the Census Bureau.

This was more than double the 24 percent rise in total households. Compare this with the number of households headed up by people, ages 35 to 54, which fell 3 percent.

And the number of households headed by young adults? Well, they only grew by 9 percent during that time frame.

Older Americans are now in charge of 46 percent of our nation's households and over three-quarters of its wealth!

If your business doesn't have a marketing plan in place to reach this booming, older demographic, then you’d be crazy!

34th annual Mayors’ Beans & Cornbread Luncheon set for March 3

The Mayors’ Beans & Cornbread Luncheon is returning to the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center for a hybrid in-person and drivethru event.

After several years of drive-thru events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the luncheon will be back at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, 1501 Mac Davis Lane, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. March 3.

For $20, each guest will receive a full plate of beans and cornbread, along with all the fixings. Attendees will also be entered into a drawing for prizes. Tickets can be purchased online, https:// covenanthealth.ejoinme.org/ beansandcornbread, or by calling Hospice of Lubbock 806-795-2751 or the Covenant Health Foundation at 806-725-6089.

If attending in-person, park on the upper level and enter the north doors.

If visiting the drive-thru, drive around the north entrance and enter the parking lot facing the covered parking of the civic center.

The annual Mayors’ Beans & Cornbread Luncheon is Hospice of Lubbock’s opportunity to raise funds to provide free hospice care to the unfunded and underfunded in 19 counties in the region.

“We are excited to bring this longstanding tradition back to the civic center for our 34th annual event,” said Dr. Jeremy Brown, Hospice of Lubbock CEO. “The money we raise helps support the amazing work Hospice of Lubbock provides for terminally ill patients and families in Lubbock and 18 surrounding counties.”

By Randal C. Hill

With legendary heroes, myths about them often become entangled with the truth, and we end up being uncertain about the validity of their stories.

Take St. Patrick, for instance. Was Patrick really his birth name? Was he from the Emerald Isle? Did he drive snakes from Ireland? Was March 17th the day he was born? Did he become he a full-fledged saint?

Let’s see what we know and don’t know here.

Sometime in the fifth century, when he was about 16 years old, Maewyn Succat was captured by Irish pirates from his wealthy family’s villa in Roman Britain, probably in the area we now know as Wales. He was whisked away to become a slave in Northern Ireland, where he worked as a shepherd for six years and spent his precious spare time in prayer.

In his early twenties, Succat claimed he heard a voice telling him that he would be going home soon. At the right moment, he fled his master and made his way to a port 200 miles away, where he found a ship’s captain willing to return him to Britain.

Once back home, the pious young man studied to be a Christian missionary, all the while planning to return to Ireland in hopes of replacing their bizarre pagan religion—which sometimes demanded animal and human sacrifices—with the Catholic faith.

After becoming a priest,

Maewyn Succat changed his name to Patricius, the Latin term for “father figure.”

In his missionary work, he used the common three-leaf shamrock to teach the Irish about the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Ghost. By the way, a shamrock always has three leaves, while the similar clover can occasionally but rarely have four. (The chances of finding such a plant are about one in 10,000.)

Supposedly, St. Patrick chased all the country’s snakes into the sea during a 40-day fast he was undertaking on top of a hill. That never happened. Since the Ice Age, the Emerald Isle has been snake-free, so there was nothing for Patrick to banish.

Today, we honor Patrick each March 17, which is thought not to be the day he was born but the day he died. Historians can never be certain of this, however, and St. Patrick’s own writings don’t provide evidence for dates more precise than the fifth century in general.

Perhaps the biggest myth of all? Although he is widely venerated today, the patron saint of Ireland has yet to be canonized by a pope.

As for today’s celebrations, St. Patrick’s Day often means parades. Contrary to belief, they didn’t start with the Irish. The first such event took place in Boston in 1737, with New York City following 25 years later. Dublin didn’t offer a parade until 1931.

In the Big Apple’s iconic event, about 150,000 marchers walk for up to five hours on Fifth Avenue. It doesn’t take that long in Hot Springs, Arkansas; their parade route measures 98 feet in length. And that’s no myth.