Most of us look forward to retirement and see it as an opportunity to do all those things that we never really had time to do before. However, what a lot of us don’t realise is that when we retire, everything changes.

The daily routine shifts and the need to be up and about lessen; many drift slowly into a sedentary lifestyle, not by choice but by default.

All things considered, we deserve to take it easy after a lifetime of working. This is until we find ourselves confined within the four walls that become our ‘safe zone’, filling our days with daytime television and inevitably losing our self-worth.

While working we have physical and mental stimulation; we meet a lot of different people and exercise our social skills daily.

For most of us, this keeps us young at heart, fitter and better able to manage what life throws at us. Retirement doesn’t have to trigger the end of this lifestyle; we just have to take some responsibility in keeping physically and mentally active.

A brilliant way of doing this is by volunteering for a worthy charity; it’s like working but with two differences.

Volunteering means we can choose how much, what and when we work, whilst utilising our specialist skills and accessing training to develop new skills.

The other obvious difference is we don’t get paid, however being valued, keeping active and maintaining our identity far outweighs this.

Volunteering may not make you younger, but it will certainly make you feel younger.

If you want to know more about volunteering options, why not call us on 030 300 30003.