You’ve looked forward to retirement almost all your adult life. However, now that you’ve finally reached it, you may not know what to do with all your free time. While it can be nice to spend a day doing nothing once in a while, many retirees get antsy and start looking for ways to fill those empty hours. Fortunately, now that you’re no longer working, you have an opportunity to spend time doing something you really want to do. The possibilities are endless and depend on your personal tastes, but here are some ideas to get you started choosing a new hobby for retirement.

1. Learn a New Skill

Retirement is an opportunity to learn something new that you have always wanted to try. You could take a dance class, learn to play a musical instrument, or get your pilot’s license.

2. Do a Craft

There are a wide range of creative crafts that you can learn in retirement, such as woodworking, sewing, and painting. You may even be able to combine two hobbies by getting your pilot’s license and then learning to build your own experimental aircraft.

3. Teach Others

During your career, you have probably learned a number of helpful skills that people would benefit from learning now. You may put your skills to good use by teaching them in a part-time adult education program in the evening. Teaching others something that is important to you can be extremely rewarding, and you may earn a little extra income by doing it as well.

4. Travel

Traveling in early retirement is a bit of a cliché, but that’s because it really can be the best time to do it. A cross-country excursion or a global trek is a great opportunity to see parts of the world that you have always wanted to visit. A nice long voyage soon after retirement can help to ease the transition from working life by offering something completely different.

5. Explore Outdoors

You may not be able to afford a wide-ranging trek in your retirement, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot get out and enjoy the great outdoors. There are almost certainly state and local parks nearby where you can participate in activities such as walking/hiking, biking, boating, birdwatching. Even if you prefer to stay close to home, you can exercise some creativity by taking up gardening. You may discover just as much, or more, in your own backyard as you would on an overnight hike to an unfamiliar place.