Quote:
Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest
After living in the Villages for a few years I’m wondering what the Villages Lifestyle really consists of. TV seems to revolve around Activities. Pickleball, Golf, Bocce’, softball and a seemingly endless list of others. At the end of the day there’s always entertainment at the squares. Many of us stay so busy that we hardly have the time to get to know the people we enjoy all these activities with.
For most it’s hardly a relaxing retirement. With this highly active, busy lifestyle are we increasing our longevity or setting ourselves up for injuries and over exertion? Would a more relaxing lifestyle improve mind and body or are we better off pushing the limits as we advance into our 80’s?
Of course, we can always choose to slow down, relax and take it easy rather than live with daily 2 hour sessions of activities, one after the other. But if we were to choose that relaxing lifestyle would we feel displaced living in TV?
Does this portray the Villages lifestyle that you see or do you see the lifestyle here as something different?
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Hey, Person of Interest! Last night I was watching a DVD of the TV series Person of Interest! Great show.
Before I moved here I discovered Talk of the Villages. At the top of the page is Entertainment, and I dragged down to Clubs and went through all of them. I printed out the club names and descriptions for about a hundred I thought sounded like fun. I put them in a notebook. So how many have I attended? Very few. I gave up on the idea of pickle ball and softball (which I loved as a kid) after talking to people who played and finding out how often they are injured. I gave up on golf because it’s just too hot for me. I don’t play cards. I don’t do crafts. I discovered that it’s not easy to get into a woodworking shop— there’s a waiting list. But I loved playing my guitar and mandolin at home, so I went to a couple jams held at Rec centers. I had such a great time that I was soon playing in NINE jams a week. I don’t do things halfway, so I was soon devoting most of the rest of my time to practicing, learning new instruments, developing songs I could perform, learning more about the sorts of music I was playing. I was spending at least forty hours a week on this and having a grand time. For me, that is ONE OF the Villages Lifestyles. In a few months I found I couldn’t keep up with it all, so, I cut down to three a week, with extra ones now and then. Thursday through Saturday I keep free at present. I LOVE being retired here. I’m a Hedonist: I live for pleasure. That could be the pleasure of playing a great solo, or eating a great slice of pizza, or smelling the fragrant air here, or enjoying the beauty I drive past every day. I want to notice and consciously enjoy it all and avoid everything I don’t enjoy as much as possible. That’s my Villages Lifestyle, I plan to be here until I croak.