When is the right time to consider moving to an Active Adult Living Community?

While making life decisions, including moving, is an individual choice I have found most people considering a change to this lifestyle are somewhere between retirement and needing assisted living.

The “Rightsizing” Dilemma

The biggest stumbling block to adopting an Active Adult Living Community lifestyle is often the daunting task of moving. Many folks at this stage of their lives reside in the large family home where for many years they raised their family and have accumulated stuff to show for it. It’s the stuff that’s the issue and the family discussion at the kitchen table goes something like this:

• What should we keep?
• What will the kids want? (very little in truth).
• What gets donated and where?
• Is any of this worth money?
• Should we hold a yard sale and how do we price things?
• And the overwhelming stumbling block, Where on earth do we start? (right about now you may be channeling comedian George Carlin and a place for his stuff. That’s OK. Laughter is healthy)

This one factor, in my opinion, delays folks from moving to the next chapter of their lives by between 3 and 5 years. It does not get easier as time goes on only harder as do most things the older we get.

3 Pilars of Active Adult Living

To enjoy an Active Adult Life style to the fullest you need to embrace it while you can still be active and this in turn will keep you active longer. In fact Wellness, Freedom and Friendship are the 3 pillars this life style promotes.

Wellness to get and maintain health as we age in appropriate age oriented ways.

Freedom from lawn care to enjoy the things in life such as travel.

And Friendship. As a 55+ community specialist I often hear the very best thing about 55+ living is the new friendships you make with people in similar stages of their lives and from all areas of the country. Think college life for seniors.

I haven’t had anyone tell me that they wished they had waited longer to move to an Active Adult Community. Only lamenting that they hadn’t done it sooner. Don’t be like them. You’ve spent a lifetime looking forward to enjoying the rewards of your retirement.

Don’t Wait! Enjoy them now!