Continue Healthy Habits
Besides keeping yourself active, one of the biggest things those living alone after 55 can do to continue living a purposeful and healthy life is to keep up with some good habits. This can include things like:
- Taking care of the way you look: If you look good, you feel good. It’s a common phrase, but it doesn’t make it less accurate. And the concept doesn’t have to change as we age. Now, we’re not saying you should spend your time at the salon. We’re talking about the small things, including: Getting dressed every morning. Drinking water regularly. Having a daily skin routine… Or anything else that will make you feel good.
- Maintain a nutritious diet: Cooking for yourself may feel less enjoyable, or you might not think it’s worth it. Eating a meal alone can remind some of how alone they really are. And for many aging adults, appetites change, and eating healthy meals becomes less of a priority. But nurturing your body is one of the best ways of promoting health and independence. We recommend reaching out to friends, family, or community members to meet for lunch or dinner weekly. You can even sign up for a meal subscription box. It makes cooking healthy meals easy and convenient.
I started a group of 10 ladies who get together on the 3rd. Thursday of the month and play the phase 10 card game. We begin at 11 am and eat hour devours and drink wine. Then we have lunch at about 12:30 pm. and then go back to the card game. We are all retired ladies and we rotate the card game at different ladies’ homes.
We also go to other events together, and some of us go to Zumba class together and others go to Line Dancing class together. This year, a number of us started working as substitutes in the office at our local school system. We keep pretty busy. But it all started with our card game.