Wisdom Gained: 14 Things You Should Stop Doing After 55
There is a time for everything. In your 20s, you have plenty of room to take financial risks, engage in risky behaviors, and test your physical limits. By age 55, you should look at life through a wisdom-tinted lens.
Generalizing about humans of any age can be perilous, but there are undeniable physical, cognitive, and temporal realities that every 55-year-old mustn’t overlook.
Perhaps you ignore one (or 14) of the suggestions we’ve compiled here—that’s your right as a grown man or woman. However, at least consider implementing these don’t-dos if you want to make the most of your retirement years.
1. Posting Controversial Opinions on Facebook (Or X or Instagram)
Social media has a purpose for older adults and seniors. That is posting photos of family outings, keeping up with friends you can’t see in person, and fawning over images of your grandchildren.
The average American spends about 1,300 hours on social media per year, and that’s time we won’t get back. The clock on life is always ticking, and getting into online spats with strangers is a waste of that precious time and stress-inducing in a way that might shorten your lifespan.
2. High-Impact Exercise
There are many stories of ninety-year-olds who swear that their daily jog keeps them young. Don’t disregard these anecdotes.
Do, however, recognize that repetitive high impact increases the likelihood of stress fractures and other injuries. Opting for many low-impact alternatives to running, such as cycling and vigorous walking, may spare you a costly, life-draining surgery when you should be focused on R&R. This choice can reassure you that you’re making the best decisions for your health and well-being.
3. Spending Like There’s No Tomorrow
Most of us envision retiring to an endless well of money that never runs dry. Tragically, the well does run dry even for those who consciously saved for retirement.
If you’re lucky, there is a tomorrow, and living tomorrow will cost you money. If you spend frivolously at age 55 (or even age 25), you run the risk of having to don a Wal-Mart greeter uniform out of necessity.
4. Neglecting Your Diet-Related Resolutions
The phrase “live a little” should be applied liberally in your later years. That said, eating like a glutton eventually catches up, and the margin for poor dietary decisions becomes thinner the older we get.
Sticking to a health-conscious diet might add a decade to your life, and it will also reduce the likelihood that you spend an unacceptable portion of your time in and out of doctors’ offices. Everything in moderation, right?
5. Extreme Activities
If you’ve waited until age 55 to fulfill your lifelong wish of skydiving, your heart is probably good enough to handle a plummet out of an airplane. That said, engaging in extreme activities is a recipe for eventual injury or heart attack, as you have a life’s worth of wear and tear to contend with.
While we could not, in good conscience, discourage anyone from living their best (or most adrenaline-seeking) life, there are several good reasons why most people over the age of 55 don’t routinely snowboard or ride dirt bikes.
6. Holding Grudges Against Friends and Loved Ones
Life’s too short to pass away (or see others pass away) with unresolved grudges.
Holding unresolved resentments fills you with negative emotions that contribute to anxiety, depression, and mood disorders. You may even suffer digestive issues, cardiovascular strain, and other serious physical symptoms as a result of your unwillingness to forgive and forget. For your health and sanity, let go of existing grudges and do everything possible to avoid new ones.
7. Working
There are a couple of caveats here. If you genuinely enjoy your work or can’t retire until later, then working is encouraged even after you turn 55.
That said, those who can’t bring themselves to quit working may not only be imposing a psychological and physical toll on themselves but are also misusing time that should go towards living it up. We all have an expiration date, and one of the most common regrets is failure to use time for things we truly love—for most, work doesn’t fall into that category.
8. Staying Up Past Midnight
Few variables extend or reduce our longevity as much as sleep. Quality sleep can add five years to a man’s life, while it may extend a woman’s life by two and a half years.
Bad sleep, on the other hand—well, you’ve probably figured out what bad sleep does for your lifespan. Your immune system needs sleep to strengthen itself, and every other feature of your being also benefits from quality rest. You might be inclined to stay up late and maximize every minute of your life, but you’re ironically only trimming your life shorter by refusing to go to sleep. Prioritizing quality sleep is a way of showing care and concern for your own well-being.
9. Ignoring That Physical or Cognitive Abnormality
Nobody wants to go to the doctor. That unfamiliar lump or involuntary limp might be nothing, but those over 55 don’t have the luxury of gambling on their health.
Getting things checked out immediately could be the difference between living a long life or dying prematurely, and the statistics indicate that older adults should see the doctor when something seems off. This proactive approach to health can make you feel in control and confident about your well-being.
10. Committing Crimes
A five-year prison stint is an inconvenience at any age. However, a thirty-something has time to get their life back on track after a brush with the law. Plus, younger people can hack the physical and psychological toll that incarceration imposes.
Ask Bernie Madoff about spending one’s later years in prison. Odds are, he’d tell you it’s not ideal. Whether you have a drug habit or a penchant for white-collar crime, your 55th birthday is the ideal opportunity to kiss your bad-boy ways goodbye.
11. Doing Drugs
Addiction can be a vicious thing, and quitting a habit is far easier said than done. That said, the heightened and age-related possibility of suffering a heart attack or other adverse health consequences due to drug use is plenty of reason to go clean and straight.
The younger body is resilient, while the older body and mind tend to be less so. Maintaining a bad habit into your late fifties (or later) is a recipe for a shortened lifespan. Plus, wasting money in retirement is one of the cardinal financial sins.
12. Taking Phone Calls, Texts, and Emails From People You Don’t Know
The Feds know that scammers target older individuals so intentionally that there is a specific category of offense (and hotline) dedicated to this crime: Elder fraud.
Fraudsters take all kinds of approaches to enter retirees’ wallets and bank accounts. They pretend to be the victim’s grandchild, pose as Medicare representatives, and seduce their way into others’ fortunes. If you’re not 100% certain who you’re talking to, assume it’s a scam.
13. Putting Off Lifelong Desires
If there is a hobby, trip, love interest, or activity you have been putting on the back burner for decades, get busy living or get busy dying.
The caveat is that you shouldn’t compromise your financial security (or, generally, your physical safety) in pursuit of a long-neglected bucket list item. That said, if there is no discernible risk in the act, recognize that you’re not getting any younger. It might be now or never.
14. Putting Others First
Parents spend much of their lives putting others first. From financial compromises to time spent engaging in hated activities just to see a smile on someone else’s face, much of life is about sacrifice.
When you reach 55, you have earned the right to put yourself first. Your kids should be grown (or near grown), and your retirement savings were not put aside for them anyway. It’s finally time to do you.
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