How to know when to start planning the next stage of your life
You may have reached a stage where you feel it’s time to downsize, move out of the family home into a retirement community and enjoy life while you’re still active. Yet it’s understandable if you’re still attached to your home with all its memories. It can make the thought of moving a little overwhelming.
Perhaps you have friends who’ve already made the move. It makes it easier to see the benefits of choosing a simpler life, making a fresh start, and setting up home in a fabulous retirement community.
Once you begin the process, it can become a rewarding experience as you begin this exciting new phase of your life.
How to know if you’re ready to move
Have a look through this list and see if you recognise yourself in there. Perhaps you’ve been saying some of these regularly – out loud, in your head, or under your breath!
- I’m feeling lonely and isolated
- Our home is too big to manage on our own
- The stairs just keep getting steeper!
- It’s been ages since we just went out and had fun
- The grandkids don’t come for sleepovers anymore
- I’d just like to do nothing for a change
- I’m sick of the weeds/mowing/the pool/the neighbour’s dog
- We never use the spare room anymore – it’s a waste of space
- I’ve had a couple of falls and don’t feel safe at home
- I don’t know my neighbours anymore
- We don’t want to be left alone if one of us goes
- I just can’t keep on top of things
- I hardly see any of our friends
If some of this sounds like you (or you could add a few more to the list) then you might be ready to start planning your move into a retirement living community.
What you can expect to find in a retirement community
Here are some of the reasons more people are making the move into a modern retirement village earlier. It might help you decide to pack up even sooner and join them!
A safe and secure environment
It’s easy as you get older to start staying home more, simply because you don’t feel safe going out. In a retirement community, the safety and security of residents is a high priority.
Safety features often include well-lit streets, security cameras, private access to shared facilities, and well designed, safe outdoor areas. Even the roads and footpaths are designed for safe access.
This added security gives residents peace of mind and the freedom to enjoy their community – any time of the day or night.
Making new friends
As people get older, their social circles often get smaller. Friends move further away or become sick, and family members are busy raising their own families.
Retirement villages offer a wonderful place to rebuild your friendship circles with people who are at a similar age and stage in life. You’re sure to make connections with those who share similar interests with you and the more you socialise, the deeper your friendships grow.
It’s also a comfort knowing there is someone next door or just around the corner to have a chat to or share activities with. You don’t even need to get in your car!
So much to fill your diary
You’ve heard the saying “So much to do, so little time”. Well that’s certainly true of modern retirement villages!
The beautiful resort-style facilities are so well equipped, you could fill your diary every day with something different to do. Of course, you may prefer to take things at a slower pace – the choice is always yours.
You might like to keep busy with fitness classes like aerobics, yoga, tai chi. You might join the book club, take a cooking class, start a craft circle or head to the men’s shed. If it’s not happening in the village there will be plenty of options in the nearby community, and usually a shuttle bus to get you there and back.
One look at the notice board and you’re bound to find bus trips to theatre shows, major shopping centres, beautiful tourist spots or full day trips further afield.
Greater health benefits
Retirement communities are designed for people who are active, social, and healthy. They offer endless opportunities to develop in each of these areas. It’s easy to keep yourself physically active in a retirement community when there is so much to do. You might take up bowls, find a tennis partner, do a few laps of the pool, push weights in the gym, or join a walking group.
Many villages have regular visits from health care providers or are located a short distance from medical centres, so you won’t have to travel far to seek professional health advice. The community is designed around supporting the mental and emotional health of its residents.
Staying fit, healthy, and happy will improve your longevity and give you so much more out of your retirement years.
Come and experience what your retirement life could be like
In retirement you deserve to have more freedom, to feel safe and secure, make new friends, go on adventures and be healthy and happy. Our team at Kensington Gardens in Albury and Shepparton can help you take steps towards living the retirement you’ve always dreamed of.
We’ve created an exciting, interesting, and carefree lifestyle community that our residents love coming home to. Most say to us, “We should have moved here years ago!”
Come and visit our secure retirement community and you’ll get a feel for just how incredible retirement living can be.
Arrange your safe, socially distanced tour by calling Kensington Gardens at Albury on 02 6049 3100 or Shepparton on 03 5820 5100 today or get in touch online to book a time to come in and visit us.
