Author: HairWeavings Editorial Team
Creating Community During the Senior Experience: 5 Ways to Surround Yourself with People Who Care
Community is the heart of everything as we age, and it’s important to become engrained in one before loneliness and isolation lead us down the wrong path.
In her July 2023 Psychology Today article, Samantha Stein PsyD described the myriad ways community is important for human beings. In addition to providing belonging, support and identity, she wrote, community also reduces stress and isolation.
Without it, we are putting our lives at risk, plain and simple.
What the Studies Say
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, social isolation and loneliness put people – especially older adults – at risk for heart disease and stroke, Type 2 diabetes, depression and anxiety, addiction, suicidality and self-harm, dementia and earlier death. The CDC estimates loneliness costs the US economy around $406 billion a year, in addition to the estimated $6.7 billion a year in Medicare costs for socially isolated older adults. It’s an expense that affects all of us!
Not only does establishing community extend and enhance our lives, but it also makes us happier and more content as we age. The 80-year Harvard Study of Adult Development indicates that community and the relationships that define it are the top inputs in predicting a happy, healthy life. This factor is more important than what we eat, what we do for a living, and what we own.
“Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed. Those ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes,” a 2017 Harvard Gazette piece explained.
This is an important finding that should influence the way we think about and plan for our second half.
So how do we get connected to our people and the tribe that will sustain us in our Golden Years? The good news is we don’t have to look far and wide. Community is practically at our front door; we just have to look for it, step into it, and dedicate ourselves to the process. Here are a few suggestions for building community that lasts.
Reconnect with Family and Longtime Friends
In many, if not most, cases, family is the foundation of our community. So look for ways to get a little closer to your relatives or friends that have been like family (framily). That may mean moving to a home that is nearer to these special folks, or dedicating yourself to more frequent trips and visits.
It’s easier to connect with and provide assistance to people in your community when you’re living close by, so consider proximity when you’re thinking about where you will live as you age. Also, decide to build tighter relationships with family and friends who already live nearby. It’s never too late to bring people back into your fold and make your family circles tighter, stronger and more mutually beneficial.
Commit to Attend Spiritual Events
Make a commitment to attend worship services, activities and small group opportunities at a nearby church or faith organization. These communities are by nature loving and supportive of their members. By mission, they are dedicated to community service and filling needs and most importantly, providing folks with a sense of purpose, selflessness and gratitude. Places of worship check so many boxes in the realms of community. Plus, people will notice when you’re missing and keep tabs on your well-being!
Decide to Live in a Multifamily, Walkable or Connected-by-Design Community
As you age, you will encounter unexpected challenges such as immobility, driving restrictions and physical impairment and these may limit your ability to have relationships with other people. Deciding ahead of time that you will live in a home that is within walking distance of the services and vendors you utilize on a daily basis will help mitigate these challenges.
These residences may be manageable single-family homes in close proximity to retail centers or multifamily condominiums, townhomes or apartments that afford residents access to shared resources, amenities and social gatherings. They may or may not be assisted or independent living arrangements, but make sure to investigate those types of residences.
The number one reason older adults move to retirement communities, continued care communities, active senior adult neighborhoods and the like is to be part of, you guessed it, community.
Dedicate Yourself to a Volunteer Effort, Hobby or Activity That Fuels Your Passion
Whether you like to mountain bike, run, knit, cook or support causes close to your heart, community is in the very fabric of these pursuits.
Perhaps there’s a running group that you can meet up with several times a week for a light jog? Maybe there are sewing circles that make blankets for children in the nearby hospital? Is there an organization in which you can take a board, volunteer or leadership role? Any interest will lead you to a core group that can provide sustaining relationships that can bring new color into your life.
Explore more ideas in our Hobbies section.
Join a Social, Fitness, or Special Interest Club
This option may involve fees and annual dues, but it will be money well spent. Clubs of any kind focus on fraternity and relationship building, so they are a perfect place to develop new friendships. Many revolve around fitness and outdoor activities like golf, tennis, pickleball, sailing, and exercise, so clubs provide endless opportunities to enhance your health and wellness!
Let’s Have a Conversation:
How are you building community in your life today? Do you think it’s important to have friends and family in close proximity? What resources have you discovered on your journey?
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The Beanie Baby Debacle: My Brush with Valulosis
I recently listened to a podcast about the Beanie Baby craze of the 1990s, and it triggered a memory so bizarre, it’s part of an urban legend – except it happened to me.
In the mid-90s, I was a third-grade teacher with a classroom full of kids and, naturally, a collection of stuffed animals for silent reading time. One Christmas, a student’s parent gave me an incredible gift: the original nine Ty Beanie Babies, including “Spot Without a Spot,” which made collectors swoon. At the time, I knew nothing of it. They were adorable, sure, but I cut the tags off and tossed them into the classroom pile.
Later, when I had a child of my own, and I had moved to the 4th grade, these Beanie Babies came home with me. My son buried them in the sandbox, shot them with rubber darts, and gave them the childhood they deserved. They were well-loved, but I assumed that was the end of their story.
The Creepy Mall Showdown
Fast forward a few years later, and Beanie Baby mania had reached its pinnacle. Stories of these little stuffed animals selling for thousands of dollars made the news. I went to the library to do research and realized I had the nine originals mocking me from all around my house. Curious – and hopeful – I decided to get them appraised at a “Beanie Baby Event” at our local mall.
The event was as creepy as it sounds. A makeshift setup of folding tables, dim lighting, and chain-smoking dealers greeted me as I dumped my well-loved pile of Beanie Babies onto a card table. The room went silent.
The man behind the table inspected the tush tags (yes, tush tags are a thing) and accused me of counterfeiting them. And here I thought I couldn’t even sew a straight line! “Spot Without a Spot” alone was worth $2,000, and owning the full set of originals was beyond suspicious. I stood there, holding my plastic bag, feeling like I’d wandered into a crime ring.
I was scared, and as I turned to leave, I noticed a woman lurking at a table by the pretzel kiosk, puffing on a cigarette, eyes boring into me. She followed me to the exit, and before I could decide if I was about to get mugged, she whispered, “I’ll give you $1,200 for the bag. No questions asked.”
Taking the Couch and Running
This was long before the days of Venmo and PayPal, so when she pulled out a check, I panicked. But before handing over my precious, slightly sand-encrusted Beanie Babies, I looked up her name and address in a nearby phone book (remember those?). She was legit, so I handed over the bag, took the check, and never looked back.
I used that $1,200 to buy a new couch, which seemed like the most adult thing to do at the time. Because nothing says responsible decision-making like cashing in stuffed animals for living room furniture. It wasn’t until later that I realized the whole ordeal had sparked a dangerous case of Valulosis.
When Valulosis Strikes
After the Beanie Babies, I started looking at everything in my house through the warped lens of potential value. A scratched Lionel Richie record? A priceless vinyl! A chipped teapot from my Teeny Grandma? A rare collectible! Maybe I had judged my parents for hoarding their “treasures,” but here I was, wandering my house like an auctioneer, convinced I was sitting on a goldmine.
The Comment Section Backlash
Apparently, valulosis is a touchy subject. When I wrote about it last time, some readers thought I was heartless, accusing me of terrorizing my parents by tossing their beloved mementos. The irony? The very opposite was true.
I don’t indiscriminately toss keepsakes; I agonize over them. My family actually takes ironic delight in people who take minimalism to the extreme – like Great Aunt Bernice who wouldn’t let a day-old newspaper linger because, in her mind, that was basically hoarding. I appreciate meaningful keepsakes like albums, scrapbooks, and family trinkets, but valulosis isn’t about that. It’s about thinking everything is worth something when most of it really isn’t.
And just to clarify – I’m not saying hoarding is a joke – it’s a real issue. But the slippery slope of assigning exaggerated value to everyday junk? That’s where the comedy can live.
The Box Hoarders’ Anonymous Club
Speaking of assigning value, my husband and I have entered a new phase of life: we are officially Box People. You know, the ones who receive a package, inspect the box it came in, and declare, “We gotta keep this box. What a great box!”
It started with, “This will be handy for wrapping Christmas gifts.” Then it became, “What if we need to ship something?” Now, we have a small storage room in our basement filled with useful boxes. We are one step away from inviting the neighbors over to admire our collection like some sort of museum exhibit:
Here we have the 2023 Amazon Prime Edition – double-walled for durability, pristine corners, practically a fortress. And over here, the rare, discontinued Dayton’s gift box, a true relic of beautiful packaging.
This is how valulosis sneaks up on you. One day, you’re smugly smiling at your parents for keeping a broken recliner, and the next, you’re running out of storage space because every single box is “too good to throw away.”
The Takeaway
That $1200 couch is long gone, and I have no idea what happened to my son’s sandbox-ravaged Beanie Babies after their high-stakes mall exchange. But the lesson remains: Sometimes, stuff is just stuff. The trick is knowing when to hold onto it and when to let it go.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a drawer full of vintage Tupperware lids that need reorganizing. They might be worth something someday.
Let’s Talk About It:
Have you ever discovered a really valuable thing hiding in plain sight that you never imagined would be worth something? Have you ever fallen victim to valulosis? What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve clung to, convinced it was worth a fortune? (Remember, I think you are awesome even if you want to cling to a drawer filled with address labels charities sent to you as a guilt gift.)
Teachers like me hold on to a lot of stuff, and we NEED that stuff! Click here to listen to our podcast episode called Teachers Are Hoarders. I’d love to hear your stories – and let’s be honest, we all have at least one.
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