Activities for Senior Fun: A Fascinating Journey
When Welsh poet Bob Dylan’s dad was going blind in 1951 and losing hope because there was no way out of it, his son implored him to battle on until the very end. “Do not go gentle into that good night, Dad,” he wrote to him in a poem. “Old age should burn and rave at close of day: rage, rage against the dying of the light.” I hope you find this inspirational. It is the thought that keeps me going in all aspects of my life as I age myself, and search for activities for senior fun that I can still enjoy.
We each have some aspect of ourselves that weathers more quickly than the other bits. Our joints start wearing out and we get arthritis, our sense of balance begins to fail, our memories are not as sharp as they used to be and so on. I wrote this article to encourage you to not to let these things hold you back from enjoying the best time of your life, and to suggest some activities for senior fun you may not have tried yet.
Activities for Elderly Folk Who No Longer Drive
A few years ago while I was waiting for my cataract surgery, I became increasingly insecure in busy traffic. My left eye was particularly bad and I believe it was only through God’s grace that I did not have an accident. I handed the steering over to someone else and found this added a new dimension to my life, because I could now concentrate on watching the ladies around me (those that I could see, that is).
I turned my difficulty to another advantage by walking down to local shops to buy the morning newspaper instead of driving, and skimming through it over a cup of coffee in the next-door café. I made several new friends chatting. Later, we agreed to form a group to go on coach tours to Canada’s scenic spots like Banff National Park in the Rockies. These days my sight is much better, however although I am back to driving I still enjoy the relaxing activities for senior fun I described.
Activities for Senior Fun that Stimulate the Memory
It is our short term ‘forgettery’ that fades first. I can still remember my school days like yesterday, but I am always misplacing my car keys or my phone. This made me so mad one day that I googled ‘senior games for memory’ and discovered a universe of memory games for the elderly that have helped me become more alert and concentrate when I put things down.
I find the key is keeping the old brain busy. There are so many delightful ways to do this that I’ll point you to this link instead of trying to list them all. I was so pleased to find that memory-building therapy includes playing fun games from childhood like scrabble and monopoly and even chess although it took me a while to recall my favourite moves. I really do encourage you to start a senior game group – or join one if it already exists. I promise that you will look forward to living your retirement even more this way!
How to Have Huge Fun While Improving Your Balance
Those irritating little wobblies, slips and falls that plague us become commoner as we age, because we are no longer as good as multi-tasking as we were. I have started finding it a little harder to concentrate on what I am doing in busy shopping malls, and in the seniors’ dining room in a really great place that I am considering retiring to. I will end this article with the fantastic news that playing computer games improves our balance, and we can do it sitting down in case we are getting over a fall. If you thought activities for senior fun were boring then think again.
Before you ask me how much wine I had for dinner, I’ll refer you to an article published in The Journals of Gerontology that I found on CBS News the other day. After experimenting with the benefits of various leisure activities for seniors, scientists at the Centre for Research on Health and Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago concluded that playing computer games slowed the decline of people’s balance and walking speed.
Just don’t ask me how it works. I am too busy with the latest computer activities for senior fun I found on google. Now if the grandkids would just leave me alone for a moment longer I am going for a new top score.