New Challenges Waiting for you, in your post P45 world, is a host of new challenges that may never have been open to you previously. Each offers a way to build your self-esteem and enrich your life. To get you thinking, here are ten practical things you could do in your retired and active years. Get a job – ideally part time. The status may be different but it can be fulfilling both for the tasks involved and the human contact it brings. Learn a new skill or develop an existing one. A musical instrument? Touch typing? Photography? Line dancing? Computer literacy? The options are vast. Enlarge your mind and understanding. A massive range of subjects are available at most universities, including part-time and full time. It’s never too late to learn – or to explore what you wish you’d always had time for. Join a project group – a choir, drama company (they need more skills than just actors), environmental group, local political party, etc. Assess how what you were good at in your work life can be used in the context of your church, a Christian agency or your local community. And then look for opportunities including with local charities. Don’t sign up for rotas in your church simply because you now have the time. Also look for productive roles that draw on your past experience and skills. Identify your skill base and use it to teach, train, mentor or serve others. Get writing – just for yourself, for your family, or for others. Record your memories for the next generation. Or put your creativity to work, tapping in to your local writers group and the help and encouragement it offers. Take up an activity. It doesn’t have to be golf, bridge or bowls. Check out badminton, walking football, fishing, boating, swimming, painting, woodwork and more. And, if possible, take lessons so you have a peer group. Start a business. Is there a local niche you can fill? There’s always a need for someone to walk dogs, fix computers and bicycles, watch empty houses. And web-based start-ups are easy and cost little to fund. Do you have a story to tell about a new challenge you have gone for? Please share it on our Facebook group. And don’t forget to Sign Up to our blog.