Idea #4 to Help Baby Boomers and Seniors Find a Passion (Genealogy)

Sorry I haven’t posted for awhile, but I’ve been giving author talk – book signing events about my memoir: Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class.  I just gave one last week at Laguna Woods Retirement Village in Orange County, CA.  It’s been so much fun in my new role as an author.  People have responded very positively to my talks.

Today, in my ongoing discussion of things Baby Boomers and seniors can do to develop a passion as a motivation to embrace life, I’m going to talk about pursuing genealogy.  I have a retired friend who has been charting his genealogy and that of his deceased wife.  He was able to go back several generations on his own by visiting various websites.  Then, he hired a professional to go back even further.  My friend has contacted distant relatives he finds, and he travels around the world to meet them and visit old cemeteries where ancestors are buried.

The Mormons are passionate about keeping genealogical records on everyone they can as it corresponds with their religious beliefs.  They are very welcoming at all their churches to allow anyone to check their genealogical archives, and there are volunteers there to assist.

You don’t have to be a Mormon to take advantage of their help.  Best of all, it is totally free.  I visited the Mormon Temple in Los Angeles, CA many years ago and found my mother’s name along with all her parents and siblings in a 1920s census record.  She was only five years old.  It was very exciting.

Distant family members have found me because someone spent a lot of time pursuing the family genealogy.  Is genealogy something you could become passionate about as a motivation to embrace life?

Idea #3 to Help Baby Boomers and Seniors Find a Passion (Singing)

I have a horrible voice and wish I could sing. I think there was a mistake on the drawing board, and someone else ended up with my voice. Maybe it was you.

Have you always loved to sing? Now is your big chance. There are all sorts of singing opportunities for Baby Boomers and seniors. Senior citizen centers have singing classes and groups. Religious institutions of most faiths have choirs.

I know a senior who has gotten great satisfaction singing in a barbershop quartet group for years. Community theaters produce musicals. You don’t have to be the main attraction (unless that appeals to you). You could be in the chorus.

Get on the computer and google something like “singing opportunities in (fill in the name of the town or city where you live.) Or, ask a friend, neighbor or relative. I know it’s intimidating. Remember my motto: Do it anyway!

Idea #2 to Help Baby Boomers and Seniors Find a Passion (Gardening)

It’s so easy to tell someone else to get a life–find something to do.  It’s so hard as the recipient of that advice to know where to start.  One might secretly ask themselves:  What would I even do?  Where do I go to do it?  Will I look foolish?  Will I be rejected?

In my last post on this subject, I suggested looking for classes and senior programs in your community.  Today I want to talk about gardening as a pursuit.

A friend, who is a senior, retired a few years ago and turned to her prior hobby of gardening.  She is now a member of 2 rose societies, one of which tends the rose garden on the grounds of the Rose Parade headquarters in Pasadena, California.  She is always going to some gardening meeting or another, often with plant cuttings in her car trunk.  I have contributed cuttings from my own yard to her cause.  She has become passionate about this pursuit.  It gives her life joy, meaning, and excitement and provides a social outlet, interacting with other devotees.

There is a Cactus and Bromeliad Society in my area.  They have club meetings, competitions, and other events.   I once got involved for awhile in an organization for carnivorous plants after I was gifted a tropical pitcher plant.

Have you always enjoyed gardening?  See if there are any public gardens (flowers, edibles, etc.) where you live and if they’re looking for volunteers.  And remember my motto:  even if you’re scared, do it anyway!

Get Passionate About Something as a Motivation to Embrace Life!

It’s so important to reinvent yourself so you discover and learn new things.  It’s a way to get excited about life and want to get out there.  I’ve met so many baby boomers and seniors who are bored and depressed.  Now that they’ve retired and the kids are grown, they don’t know what to do with themselves.

In my life, I’ve gone from being a mother, wife and career woman (I was a probation officer for 37 years) to becoming an actress and author as a senior.  So, I’m going to start blogging about activities you can do to find something to be passionate about–something to make you want to get out of bed, get dressed, get out of the house and embrace life!  Today, I’ll talk about classes and senior programs.

There are senior citizen centers and learning-in-retirement programs in just about every neighborhood.  They offer wonderful classes, activities, and events.  Just ask friends about them or google “senior citizens center in (your city).”  Then, find their website or better yet, go in person to see what it looks like.

However you do it, get their Schedule of Classes or their program or whatever they call it.  Find a class, event, bus trip, etc. that sounds interesting, sign up, and go to it.

It’s hard walking into a roomful of people where you’re alone and everyone else seems to know each other.  Do it anyway!  Remember, just about everyone there was where you are at the beginning.

It gets easier the more you do it.  HINT:  try something you’ve never done in your life.  That’s how to grow, expand, and find a new passion in life.  That’s what I did, shaking in my shoes at the beginning.  I write all about my journey in my new memoir, Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class, including the scared, shaking in my shoes part.